New issue of the T-MRB


The latest issue (Vol.3 Issue 4 • Nov.-2020) of T MRB is out - a Special Issue with selected papers from the Hamlyn Syposium.  

“THE IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MEDICAL ROBOTICS AND BIONICS (T-MRB) is an initiative shared by the  two IEEE Societies of Robotics and Automation—RAS—and Engineering in Medicine and Biology—EMBS.T-MRB is a multi-disciplinary journal aimed at publishing peer-reviewed papers and focused on innovative research ideas and medical application results, reporting significant theoretical findings and application case studies in the areas of medical robotics and bionics. In particular, one of the six Journal Areas addressed in T-MRB concerns Surgical Robotics. Robots had a significant impact on the surgical practice, starting from primitive robotic tool holders in the early 1990s, up to the fully-fledged “smart assistants” available nowadays. Digital surgery, defined as the convergence of surgical technology, real-time data and intelligence, is arguably the next frontier of surgery. Robotic surgery has seen a flow of improvements in surgical tools. This enabled smaller incisions, with consequent reduced patient recovery time, better access to hard-to-reach body parts, greater precision and 3D visualization. Besides, the power of linked data and advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) are producing a marked impact on the way surgeries are performed, with the goal of reducing the well-documented variability in surgical processes and outcomes. The digitization of surgery has the potential to improve the lives of patients while reducing cost and inefficiencies, improving patient access, reducing inequities between citizens, Improving quality and delivering more personalized and tailored surgical care. With increased funding pressures across global health systems and the introduction of value-based care in some markets, stakeholders in both the public and private sectors view digital surgery as the next apex in surgery. Medical imaging technology focusing on acquiring real-time information and data visualization is one of the key recent advances in surgical robotics. Real-time access to 2Dor 3D reconstructed images during surgery can be of critical importance and may be further enhanced by augmented reality (AR). Furthermore, the development of AR devices would allow clinicians to incorporate data visualization into diagnostic, rehabilitation and treatment procedures, thus improving work efficiency, safety and cost, as well as enhancing surgical training. However, the awareness of AR implementations and what they may offer remains generally low. In its current (Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMRB.2020.3035014) state, AR cannot fully replace most long-established surgical, diagnostic, training, and rehabilitation methods. Robots performing partial automation could alleviate the cognitive load on the surgeon, allowing him/her to focus the attention on the most critical parts of the intervention. The partial and sequential introduction and uptake of autonomous capabilities could provide a safe passageway towards the next generation of surgical advances. This highly complex advancement involves developments and interactions between several fields in motion planning, perception, and human-machine interaction, along with the need to tackle outstanding limitations in task-level autonomy. Another area of advancement is in the development of remote teleoperation. There have already been demonstrations on the potential of remote surgery, with surgeons conducting entire procedures on patients from thousands of kilometres away using remote robotic assistance over 5G networks. The routine and safe use of teleoperation is not established yet, but may be close. For example, the use of augmented reality (AR)images to transmit real-time information to a specialist surgeon at another location, to seek their guidance in completing a taxing procedure, is already a reality. The current pandemic also serves to highlight the importance of teleoperation; separating the clinician from the patient might be particularly desirable in these circumstances.”

 Articles of the current issue:

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