ULTRA SOUND SURGERY-HEALING WITHOUT CUTS

http://www.ted.com/talks/yoav_medan_ultrasound_surgery_healing_without_cuts.html



Summary: Yoav Medan, from the University of San Diego, discusses how new scientific research has found a way to eliminate some devastating health problems with ultra sound rather than surgery. To do this, the ultra sound would be concentrated into a specific area without affecting the area surrounded the target. Medan argues that this type of surgery is better than the physical cuts because for one, the patient is actually awake during this procedure, so the relationship between the doctor and patient will be stronger. He also argues that the results are immediate, with no pain, leaving the suffering and patient out of the recovery stage. Finally, Medan explains how doctors will no longer have to physically operate on a patient; the machines will do it all. Yet as of right now, this procedure can only be done on certain cases of the brain and some types of cancers. For example, one seventy-year-old man suffered from joint and back pain on his right side. The pain was so severe that he could barley walk and sit. Yet immediately after this procedure, the patient was back to his old routines pain free.



Question: Often times, doctors make mistakes during surgery that can cause patients to suffer severely, even die. Do you think computerized procedures will help doctors with accuracy? On the other hand, is the physical surgery safer?