Robotic Surgery On a Beating Heart

An anonymous reader writes "Serious heart surgery usually involves stopping the organ and keeping the patient alive with a cardiopulmonary bypass machine. But this risks brain damage and requires a long recuperation. Scientists at Harvard University and Children's Hospital Boston have now developed a device that lets surgeons operate on a beating heart with a steady hand. The 'robotic' device uses 3-D ultrasound images to predict and compensate for the motion of the heart so that the surgeon can work on a faulty valve as it moves. The approach should improve recovery times and give a surgeon instant feedback on the success of the procedure, the researchers say. Here's a (slightly gory) video of the device in action."

OOOHH NOES!!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

NOW THEY'RE DISSECTING US!

Re:But...

[Godji]

Your question contains the answer. What would happen is a blue screen of, you know, death.

Seriously though, even if the software were written to be somehow provably correct, hardware can always fail. So can the surgeon.

Re:But...

[moogied]

...the repercussions are a more literal translation of BSOD then we generally want..

Re:What if something goes wrong?

[eln]

I'd gladly be touched by a robot as long as it left less of a mess on the way out.

Pervert.

I Am Sure Glad They Provided Video!

[BigAssRat]

Otherwise I would have had NO idea what this thing does!! Am I the only one that got 2 seconds of what looks like a hypodermic and a back massager?

Re:Poe

[Anonymous Coward]

Only if you could combine the machine and the heart with one of these [thinkgeek.com]

Re:I Am Sure Glad They Provided Video!

[Anonymous Coward]

it thought the video was just the new id logo, but i had no idea of how it got there

Re:NOW they tell me!

[Anonymous Coward]

As opposed to a Mac, where the device draws a cute little Hello Kitty on your chest with stitches?

You know, now that I think about it, that would be pretty kick-ass.