A medical first: An exoskeleton helps a paralympic athlete perform surgery
Paralympic athlete Faustino Afonso wasn’t going to let his disability keep him from doing his job.
What’s his job if not athletics? Why, saving lives, of course.
The disability advocate is also a surgeon in Spain. And earlier this month, a robotic exoskeleton allowed him to operate standing up for an entire surgery. The procedure took place at the Doctor Aguiar Institute of Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery in Tenerife on July 11—with the eponymous Dr. Aguiar leading the surgery.
This incredible feat is one example of many of how exoskeletons are revolutionizing movement and human ability. Let’s chat some more about this incredible technology.
How does Dr. Afonso’s exoskeleton work?
You may remember: we’ve discussed robotic exoskeletons in Medtech Pulse before. This kind of device has a wide range of applications now—from military armor to improving mobility for spinal cord injury patients.
The device used by Dr. Afonso is the Archelis exoskeleton, which was originally designed by a team in Japan to support surgeons who need to stand for long periods of time in the OR. The experiment with Dr. Afonso demonstrated the potential benefits of using this device to expand the professional possibilities of people with disabilities.
Here’s how it works: Think of a chair (which looks more like leg braces than a chair) strapped to your legs. You can stand and walk with it, but when you need to take a load off amid strenuous work, you can—without changing your positioning very much.
On one hand, this kind of innovation can make ordinarily grueling work—like surgery or warehouse labor—a lot more feasible for many more people. On the other hand, critics point out that industrial and military investments in this technology may create excuses to put even more pressure on laborers’ bodies.
Accessibility remains a barrier
Yes, this technology is being used to allow people with disabilities—like Dr. Afonso—to have a wider range of career possibilities. That’s not the kind of access that’s missing from this story.
We applaud the ONCE Foundation—a Spanish non-profit working to improve accessibility and quality of life for those with disabilities—for funding Dr. Afonso’s access to the Archelis. But not every person who could benefit from this kind of technology can receive non-profit financial support.
Access to exoskeleton technology remains limited. As we covered in our previous discussion of consumer exoskeletons, devices like the Archelis or the ReWalk remain mostly uncovered by private insurers—though individual public and private payors are beginning to change course on this issue. And without coverage, hopeful users can expect to spend thousands of dollars on their exoskeleton alone.
We hope that, as this technology advances, more market competition will drive those prices down for patients. And that more successful demonstrations of the technology will convince payors to cover them for patients who could benefit.
And if there are more doctors out there like Dr. Afonso—limited by their bodies, but not their dreams in pursuing medicine and surgery—we hope this technology can bring them more fully into the medical field. Their voices are much needed here, and we welcome them with open arms.