Women & Infants Offers State's First Women's Robotic Surgery Program

Providence, RI, October 25, 2010 --(PR.com)-- Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island announced its plans to expand the surgical options available to its patients with the installation of a da Vinci® Surgical System and the creation of the region’s first dedicated women’s robotic surgery program.

“Women & Infants is the region’s resource for women. We are excited to be able to now offer women the latest in minimally invasive surgery with a new surgical robot,” said Constance A. Howes, president and CEO of Women & Infants. “Robotic surgery means shorter hospitalizations and faster recoveries for patients, as well as less blood loss and a lower risk of complications.”

Surgery approved for the Women & Infants robotic surgery program includes:

· Hysterectomy for benign conditions like abnormal bleeding or pain
· Hysterectomy for uterine, ovarian and cervical cancer
· Cancer staging
· Complex surgery for endometriosis
· Sacrocolpopexy, a urogynecology procedure to prevent prolapse and incontinence
· Myomectomy, the surgical removal of uterine fibroids to preserve fertility
· Fallopian tube surgery to preserve fertility

Several Women & Infants surgeons are already certified in robotic surgery and many of the traditional surgeries being performed at the hospital will be eligible for the robot approach. The area saw a dramatic increase in the use of robotic surgery after the first system was installed and a similar trend is expected for gynecologic procedures at Women & Infants. The hospital estimates that 260 robotic procedures will be performed in fiscal year 2011, 330 in fiscal year 2012, and 400 in fiscal year 2013.

“Many surgeries that are now performed via a large abdominal incision will be candidates for the robotic approach,” said Christina Bandera, MD, director of the hospital’s Robotic Surgery Program.

The da Vinci® Surgical System - named after the inventor and Renaissance man who sketched a prototype of the first robot as a system of pulleys – is a type of laparoscopic surgery that uses a three-dimensional camera and instruments with great range of motion. The technology was originally explored in the late 1980s as a way for military surgeons to operate on battlefield patients from behind the front lines.

The surgical system has two components: the robot and the high-tech surgical console. The robot features four arms that are inserted through ports placed in the patient’s body through incisions measuring only one half inch. Three can be fitted with a variety of instruments and one controls a high-definition, three-dimensional camera that transmits images to the console nearby.

The surgeon operates while seated at a console viewing a three-dimensional image of the surgical field. The surgeon’s fingers grasp the master controls below the display. The system seamlessly translates the surgeon’s hand, wrist and finger movements into precise, real-time movements of surgical instruments inside the patient.

This method of surgery has benefits for both the surgeon and patient. For patients, the benefits, compared with surgery through a large abdominal incision, include:

· Shorter hospital stays
· Shorter recuperation periods overall
· Less pain
· Less blood loss and tissue trauma
· Fewer complications
· Less scarring

For the surgeon, robotic surgery is much more precise.

“The robot improves visualization with a three-dimensional picture and higher magnification,” Dr. Bandera explains. “This allows us to view tissue planes and intricate anatomy, as compared with laparoscopic cameras which have two-dimensional views. In addition, the robot takes laparoscopic surgery to a whole new level by steadying the surgeon’s hands, scaling movements and facilitating dexterity and flexibility with wristed instruments. Each robotic surgical instrument offers six degrees of freedom, allowing the surgeon to operate in confined anatomical locations.”

###