The proportion of women having their uterus removed using robotic-assisted surgery increased from one in 200 procedures in 2007 to almost one in 10 in 2010.
Robots are helping more hysterectomies
Robots add expense, and complications are not reduced.
February 19, 2013 at 11:21PM
However, the tool didn't reduce complications linked to hysterectomy or otherwise improve women's outlook after surgery, researchers found. And it raised the cost of the procedure by almost one-third.
"This is clearly in some ways a waste of resources," said Joel Weissman from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who co-wrote an editorial published with the study.
"It's a waste because there are equally good options and one is just more expensive than the other," he told Reuters Health.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 600,000 hysterectomies are performed each year in the U.S.
Read more from Reuters.
Kids can learn how to program robots, play chess, speak Chinese or dance hip-hop style, among other enrichment options.
