Snake robots for scar-free surgery

Of all the areas where engineering and technology is affecting medicine, surgery is probably the one where it has the potential to make the biggest changes. New imaging techniques and improved instruments help surgeons to identify the regions where they must operate and assist their intricate work.

Robot surgeons, although poorly named, are at the forefront of one of the biggest technology-led changes. Rather than carrying out surgery without human intervention, as the name implies, they are remotely operated devices that allow surgeons to work through small incisions, rather than the large holes needed in conventional surgery for surgeons to see what they are doing. This reduces the size of wounds and therefore scarring, and reduces the time needed for recovery.

One particularly striking form of remote surgery promises the possibility of doing away with scars altogether. Known as NOTES (Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery), the technique takes advantage of the holes that are already in the body as access points for surgery. Rather than making an incision in the outside of the body, the surgeon goes in via the mouth, rectum or vagina, makes an incision through the wall of the orifice (this is the ’transluminal’ part of the acronym) and then burrows through to reach the target organ. The result is no visible scar and no incision-related complications.