Febotics – a marriage of fetal surgery and robotics

Abstract

For a fetus diagnosed with a severe congenital anomaly, surgery may offer an alternative to abortion, intra-uterine death, or a life with disability. Expertise is limited however, to a few treatment centers worldwide, and there are many technical hurdles to overcome, including requirements for miniaturized instrumentation, real-time high-resolution imaging, and harmless fetal access. This article highlights recent practices in prenatal intervention and various initiatives to integrate robotics into the fetal operating room. While the number of potential patients is low, research for implementation of robotics in the field of fetal surgery is justified by the morbidity rates of current procedures, proven favorable outcomes with intervention, and the educational value with potential for extension to other medical disciplines.