News: Robotic-Assisted Surgeries in Long Island Hospitals
(Long Island, N.Y.) Hospitals across Long Island are looking into the advanced system of robotic-assisted technology to aid them with minimally-invasive surgical procedures. A top-of-the-line system known as the “daVinci Robotic Surgical System” has helped several teams of specialists perform successful surgeries in different hospitals on Long Island. The daVinci Robotic Surgical System is considered one of the most advanced systems and was named after the man who invented the very first robot.
At Oceanside‘s South Nassau Communities Hospital a sixty-eight-year-old patient had recently undergone a surgery known as a lobectomy to remove an early stage of lung cancer. The daVinci Robotic Surgical System was used to assist a multidisciplinary team of doctors. The hospital’s director of body imaging and director of thoracic oncology assisted in the surgery along with an interventional radiologist. A specialist in pulmonary and critical care, a cardiothoracic surgeon, and a cardiologist/specialist in internal medicine were also among the team.
Patients suffering from early stages of cancer are the most common candidates for robotic-assisted surgery. The sixty-eight-year-old patient was originally treated for anemia, a disease caused by a deficiency of red blood cells in the blood, before being diagnosed with colon cancer. She was scheduled to have surgery to remove the cancer in her colon.
Part of the patient’s pre-operational procedures included a chest x-ray. The x-ray revealed a mass in the upper lobe of her left lung. After experiencing more tests, the results confirmed that the patient was also suffering from the early stages of lung cancer.
The patient had undergone a technique known as wire localization, which is used when the mass is small and cannot be located by standard procedures. The daVinci Robotic Surgical System assisted by allowing doctors to separate the upper left lobe of the lung from the blood supply pumping from the heart. Finger controls on the robot provided doctors with a greater sense of dexterity.
Some of the advantages of robotic-assisted surgery include an increased range of motion, three-dimensional high definition visualization, and a reduced risk of infection for the patient. One doctor involved with a similar surgery stated that he felt as if he was miniaturized and placed inside the patient’s chest cavity.
Traditional surgical procedures are painful, incapacitating, and require a longer post-operational period of recovery. In a traditional lobectomy, a large incision between the ribs is inflicted on the patient as opposed to three or four small incisions using pencil-thin robotic-assisted surgical tools and instruments. Robot technology provides the patients with less blood loss, scarring, and need of transfusions.
The first Long Island hospital to perform a lobectomy using robot-assisted technology was Mineola‘s Winthrop University Hospital on August 17th of last year. They treated a seventy-nine-year-old resident of Franklin Square. With the use of the daVinci Robotic Surgical System similar surgeries last two hours, require a maximum of three days recovery before discharge, and there is virtually no post-operational pain.
The number of worldwide robotic-assisted surgeries has increased from 80,000 in 2007 to 205,000 in 2009. The most popular robotic-assisted surgeries treat men for early stages of prostate cancer.
Another type of robotic-assisted surgery dealing with the removal of the thymus, an immune system gland located in front of the heart, required only ninety minutes of surgery and two days before discharge. Other popular robotic-assisted surgeries include urologic, gynecologic, kidney, chest, and colon surgeries. Gastric bypass surgery can also be performed using robotic-assisted technology.
