The University of Nebraska is poised to be a leader in the evolution of surgical practice.
It already has designed, and tested in animals, several tiny, wheeled robots that can be slipped into the abdomen and controlled miles away.
It has designed an articulated grasping tool, trademarked under the name Intuitool, which can be used by surgeons performing minimally invasive surgeries.
It has obtained digital data from the da Vinci robotic surgical system to help evaluate the differences in performance between expert and novice surgeons.
On Friday, it made another leap forward when the University of Nebraska Board of Regents approved establishment of the University of Nebraska Center for Advanced Surgical Technology.
The center, which will be located at UNMC, will focus on advancing surgical technologies related to computer-assisted surgery, computer enhanced surgery, image-guided surgery, minimally invasive surgery and robotic surgery. It will involve individuals from UNMC, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Nebraska at Omaha, as well as Creighton University.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for the university and UNMC to emerge as one of the leaders in this field,” said Dmitry Oleynikov, M.D., who will serve as director of the center. Dr. Oleynikov also serves as assistant professor of surgery at UNMC and co-director of education and training of the minimally invasive and computer assisted surgery initiative at UNMC and is medical director of the minimally invasive surgery center at The Nebraska Medical Center.
“The market for minimally invasive surgery in the United States is considerable,” he said. “Of the 5.6 million surgical procedures that could be performed using minimally invasive techniques, a large percentage is still performed using traditional open procedures. We have the ability to change the landscape with new surgical technologies, while enhancing the health and quality of life for all patients.”
In addition to Dr. Oleynikov, the following UNMC faculty members are involved in the center: Byers Shaw, M.D., chairman of surgery, Corrigan McBride, M.D., director of bariatric surgery, Carl Nelson, Ph.D., assistant professor, department of surgery, and Hani Haider, Ph.D., director of the Orthopaedics Biomechanics Surgery Research Laboratory at UNMC. Marsha Morien, administrator for advanced biomedical technologies, will serve as executive director of the center, managing the day-to-day responsibilities out of UNMC’s Bennett Hall.
UNMC leaders say the center will enhance external funding opportunities and research collaborations, as well as attract biomedical industry to Nebraska by coordinating activities across the university system.
Out of 104 academic biomedical engineering programs in the United States, only 13 biomedical engineering programs, or 12.5 percent, have an expressed interest in robotic surgical technology. None has emerged as a single dominant force in the field.