Surgeons at Mercy Hospital are now able to offer the next level of robotic-assisted operations to patients in search of expert surgical care.
Mercy Hospital has been on the forefront of robotic-assisted surgery, purchasing its first surgical robotic system more than six years ago. The new surgical system allows surgeons to operate robotically for an additional number of complex surgeries.
This means that the advantages of robotic surgery – smaller incisions, less blood loss during surgery, fewer complications and shorter recovery periods – will continue to be available to patients close to home here in the community.
The upgrade to the newer system has numerous advantages. The biggest feature is the addition of a fourth arm to the system. Along with this, all the arms are mounted onto an overhead boom that can rotate and pivot into virtually any position. The arms can even be disconnected and reconnected mid-procedure if the doctors feel like swapping them around. Further, the scope used to see inside the patient delivers sharper and more defined three-dimensional images. The scope can also be attached to any arm, which lets the surgeon scope out the surgical area with more flexibility.
Overall, the arms of the surgical robot are now smaller, thinner and have a greater range of motion resulting in better precision.
Surgeons specifically trained on the robotic surgical system at Mercy Hospital will be able to perform numerous kinds of abdominal and urological operations.
“Patients who have robotic-assisted surgery often recover faster, have less post-operative pain, and need little or no narcotic pain medicine compared to open and laparoscopic surgeries,” said Dr. Robert Wrona, General Surgeon, Mercy Surgical Associates. “It is very exciting to offer patients the latest surgical techniques at Mercy.”
This specifically means surgeons can offer robotic-assisted hernia repair, complex abdominal wall reconstruction, anti-reflux surgery, gallbladder surgery, surgery of the small and large intestine, prostate surgery and kidney surgery.
The robotic system acts as an extension of the surgeon's eyes and hands, giving the physician 3-D magnified vision and 360° dexterity of four arms, which allows for more effective, precise surgical movements. The surgeon is 100% in control of the robot, which translates their hand movements into smaller, more precise movements of tiny instruments inside the patient’s body.
The immersive 3D-HD vision system provides surgeons a highly magnified view, virtually extending their eyes and hands into the patient.
Learn more about robotic-assisted surgery.
