Physicians test drive
surgical robot system

A new minimally invasive robotic surgical system could soon find its way to BMH. The new system boasts the potential for patients to experience less pain, shorter hospital stays and a faster return to normal daily activities along with better clinical outcomes.

In most hospitals, when someone is diagnosed with a condition requiring surgery, there are two basic options. One is traditional surgery with a large open incision, the second is laparoscopic surgery, which uses small incisions, but some sides of the body are difficult to reach. Last week physicians at BMH had an opportunity to try out a third option.

There is a new category of minimally invasive surgery utilizing a robotic surgical system. The sophisticated robotic platform surpasses limitations of both the traditional open surgery and conventional minimally invasive surgery. A demonstration of that technology was at BMH recently for physicians and CHS officials to examine first hand.

“Cardinal Health System is always reviewing the latest medical technology,” said Thomas Gardiner, MD, executive vice president, Cardinal Health System. “This is another example of CHS doing so and we are particularly interested in feedback from our physicians.”

The da Vinci system uses small incisions to insert miniaturized wristed, hand-like instruments and a camera. Sitting at the console the surgeon views a magnified, high-resolution 3D image of the surgical site.

At the same time, robotic and computer technologies scale, filter and seamlessly translate the surgeon’s hand movements into precise micro-movements of the surgical instruments. Every surgical maneuver is performed with direct input from the surgeon.

The ability to use the tools with 3D imagery opens the door for surgeons to do more complex surgical procedures without making large incisions.

At a cost of $1.5 million, CHS is carefully reviewing the potential for the robotic system being installed at BMH.

“As always, our main goal is providing the safest and highest quality of patient care,” said Dr. Gardiner. “We don’t want to purchase this surgical tool just because it’s the latest thing. If its something our physicians believe will improve patient care, we would then look at bringing the technology to BMH.”

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