This fall I attended a lecture at Swedish Medical Center by James R. Porter, M.D., a director of surgical robotics, laparoscopic surgery and the Robotic Fellowship Program at Swedish Medical Center. Porter is also a nationally recognized expert in prostate surgery.
Traditional abdomino-pelvic surgery previously required a large incision, (as long as 12 inches), into the abdomen, manipulation of tissue and organs by a surgeon's hands, extended surgery time under anesthesia, large volume of blood loss, recovery time in the hospital post-op, narcotics for pain control and increased risk of infection and post-op complications.
Now science and technology have given us robot-assisted surgery.
The da Vinci is a robot that Porter has been using for prostate surgeries at Swedish since 2005. Why? Several reasons.
The robot is four-armed with the capacity of a three-dimensional view providing increased depth of vision for the surgeon who controls the arms from a computer console.
With computer enhancement, the robotic fingers controlled by the physician provide more delicate, precise movements, which remove the smallest tremors of a human hand. The robotic camera, with its superior lighting mechanism and magnification gives the surgeon 20 times the normal view.
Doctors no longer need to stand for long periods of time. Robotic-assisted surgery allows the physician to sit behind the viewfinder, shoes off, relaxed and with much less stress and fatigue during the operative procedure.
Advancements made with the robot include smaller incisions, a less invasive procedure, decreased trauma to human tissue and decreased patient recovery time. There's also a shorter hospital stay, decreased medical costs, fewer complications, decreased risk of infection, quicker return to everyday activities, and for men who have undergone a prostatectomy, continence and potency.
An unexpected benefit of robot-assisted surgery has been in data collection and research studies because pathologists receive removed tissue intact. Robot-assisted prostatectomy has consistently increased since 2004, with Porter performing more than 250 procedures in 2007.
Even more impressive has been Porter's pioneering of robot-assisted surgery for removal of tumors from the kidney, (Swedish is one of the few medical centers in the country using the robot for kidney surgery). He can extract the tumors and leave the remainder of the kidney healthy and intact.
Future use of the robot-assisted surgery technology will include gynecological, cardiovascular, and ear, nose and throat surgeries.[[In-content Ad]]
