Robotic Surgery. Edited by F.Gharagozloo and F. Najam.NewYork: McGraw-Hill Medi-cal, 2008. 418 pages. Hard-bound. ISBN: 9780071459129.Price: AUD279.00.

This textbook is full of well setout chapters with colour photosand tables. It claims to be thefirst ‘comprehensive’ textbookon the field of robotic surgeryand covers the establishedand emerging role of roboticsin urological, cardiothoracic,general, gynaecological and

vascular surgery, but omitting otolaryngology. As a regular per-former of robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy, I was very inter-ested to read how this technology was being applied in otherspecialities.

The first 34 pages discuss the history of this technology develop-ment, the current components and set-up of the operating room.There is also a specific chapter on anaesthetic considerations.

The authors are both cardiothoracic surgeons and nearly half thebook is dedicated to detailed discussions of cardiac, lung, mediasti-nal and oesophageal surgery. Each chapter shows steps in the tran-sition from open surgery and includes detailed operative photos anddiagrams of patient positioning and port placement specific to thesurgery performed and special anatomic considerations. Current evi-dence at the time of publication is discussed; however, many proce-dures were in their infancy at the time and describe single/multiplecentre case series.

A change to another specialty section leads to some repetition indescribing the robotic components and their development. All sur-geries already performed laparoscopically are all shown feasible andsafe, with some potential benefits of the robotic approach discussed

in a balanced way and well referenced with evidence-based literatureof the time.

The chapter on colorectal surgery outlined how a change in tech-nique to a ‘medial to lateral’ colon mobilization has renewed interestin this technology by allowing less changes in table positioning.Various operations were shown to be feasible and safe with norobotic-specific morbidity. Ergonomics were improved and an expe-rienced laparoscopic surgeon could switch between lap/robotic tech-niques if necessary. Operative times and costs were however shownto be higher early in the learning curves.

The urological chapters described in detail how to set-up a roboticprostatectomy programme and how important is a standardizationof a technique known to all team members translating into shorterlearning curves over the laparoscopic approach. Resident trainingand surgeon credentialing were discussed as well as the impor-tance of continued audit and validated assessment of treatmentoutcomes.

The last chapters discussed the future directions of robotics andcomputer-assisted operating theatres of the future. Already we areseeing research coming to fruition with single-port robotic surgerywith flexible arms, smaller machines and arms (DaVinci Si) andsoftware to allow overlay of detailed static or real-time ultrasound/CT/MRI images into the surgical display.

Overall the book is well presented, logically formatted, colourfuland easy to read. It provides the best evidence and description oftechniques available at the time of publishing, which naturally con-tinue to be updated.

I would recommend this book to any centre setting up a roboticsurgery programme and its extra detail in cardiothoracic surgerywould appeal especially to surgeons in that field.

Richard Pemberton, MBBS, FRACS (Urol)St John of God Subiaco Hospital – Western Urology, Perth,

Western Australia, Australia

doi: 10.1111/j.1445-2197.2011.05945.x

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© 2012 The AuthorANZ Journal of Surgery © 2012 Royal Australasian College of SurgeonsANZ J Surg 82 (2012) 84