Drum roll, please …

The innovation that will have the biggest impact on health care in 2008: robotic catheter technology.

That’s the prediction of a panel of Cleveland Clinic doctors. Clinic doctors pared down a list of about 100 of today’s coolest medical innovations to what they believe will be the most important in the coming year.

A robotic system — the da Vinci System made by Intuitive Surgical Inc. in Sunnyvale, Calif. — was the hit exhibit of this year’s summit. Passersby took turns using a virtual reality-like station and viewfinder to manipulate a set of tiny tweezers to make stitches on a plastic model of a heart.

The Clinic’s No. 1 innovation for next year is similar to the da Vinci System, except that the tiny tools are introduced to body cavities — such as inside the heart — through tube-like catheters.
Robotic catheter technology systems enable surgeons to work in places where their hands don’t fit.

Such a flexible robotic system could be used for urology, cardiology, cardiac surgery and other specialty procedures, according to the Clinic panel.

Source: Cleveland.Com