Robot-assisted surgery is one of the fastest growing segments of healthcare technology. Healthcare robots work on everything from spinal surgery to brain surgery, and one hospital is using robots to assist them with any number of procedures focused on the health and wellbeing of female patients.
The Sun Life Center for Women & Children in Casa Grande, Arizona, is applying the latest generation of Da Vinci surgical robot to assist in laparoscopic procedures for female patients. The unit, which consists of a surgical control consol and a series of cameras, allows the surgeon to manipulate the robot through a series of hand and foot controls. The Da Vinci has been used so much that the hospital is planning to purchase a second unit.
Two surgeons, Dr. Daniel Rowland and Dr. Eddie Estrada, have been performing hundreds of surgeries with the robot and are training other doctors on the use of the machine. “We are able to do advanced laparoscopic surgery, and the connection to the brain is fascinating as to how it works,” said Estrada. “I’ve been doing advanced laparoscopic surgery since 1991, which includes hysterectomies, cystectomies, tubal ligations, removal of tubes, myomactomies, removal of tumors attached to the uterus, vaginal suspensions, etc., and it took me eight hours of exposure to the machine for my brain to completely connect with the robot’s instruments.”
The risks associated with laparoscopic surgeries are greatly reduced when surgeons use the Da Vinici robot. Renee Louzon-Benn, director of community outreach for Sun Life, notes the robot’s many advantages: “If the physician wanted to get a really close look at something that was going on in the abdomen of a surgical patient, he can use the robot’s scope to zoom in on a particular area, which is something that the human eye can’t do,” she said. “Personally, as a woman, I would much prefer undergoing the robotic laparoscopic procedure than having my abdominal wall cut from one side to the other.”
This type of robot-assisted surgery also decreases cost, saves money for hospitals, patients and insurance providers, and reduces recovery time. The minimally invasive nature of the surgery results in a discharge time of less than 24 hours, lowering the chance of infection, and shortens recovery time from six weeks to two.
While using robots in surgery may have seemed like science fiction only a few years ago, they now offer many advantages, so for women who must undergo these types of procedures, they can be secure in the knowledge that the latest cutting-edge technology can, at the very least, make the procedure faster, cheaper and less dangerous. When a woman is concerned about the outcome of the surgery, the last thing she needs to worry about is the procedure itself, so any peace of mind can be a boon.
Here’s hoping more hospitals that specialize in surgeries on female patients take a cue from Sun Life and use a Da Vinci to make these surgeries as painless as possible.
Edited by
Braden Becker
