title: Informatic surgery: the union of surgeon and machine.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Surgical robotics present new and unique opportunities for the training and practice of neurosurgery, beyond the promise of the minimally invasive paradigm.
  
  
  METHODS
  Robotic systems have been developed that simulate the sight, sound, and touch of surgery allowing surgical training to evolve past an apprenticeship and patient-based model towards standardization and virtual training.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The development of data-driven surgery, incorporating all information available to the human senses and advanced imaging modalities, give the modern surgeon an abundance of knowledge of the operative objectives and surgical site. Notwithstanding the automation of computers, the surgeon must not be excluded from this feedback loop as computer hardware and software is as-yet unable to compare to human data synthesis and decision making.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is this union of surgeon and machine and the continued evolution of surgery toward a data-driven science rather than an experiential art that are required for the definitive advancement of patient outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Division of Neurosurgery, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.forename: Garnette R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Sutherland
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000639:trends; D008491:Medical Informatics Applications; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures / Q000193:education / Q000295:instrumentation*; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D038361:Neuronavigation / Q000193:education / Q000295:instrumentation*; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures / Q000193:education / Q000295:instrumentation*; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D012371:Robotics / Q000193:education / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014584:User-Computer Interface