A new generation of the robot-assisted surgical system offers great benefits for patients
If you have been diagnosed with a condition that may require surgery, it's important to consider all of your medical options, especially the most effective and least invasive surgical treatments available.
Bassett Healthcare Network offers the da Vinci surgical system, an innovative alternative to traditional open surgery and conventional laparoscopy. Bassett surgeons have been using the robot-assisted technology to treat cancer and other conditions for years, but a new generation system is providing surgical teams with even more advanced capabilities, including arms with a greater range of motion and a smaller camera with more sophisticated zoom performance.
"From a surgeon's perspective, the advantages of the new surgical system are unmatched," says Nicholas Hellenthal, MD, Chief of Surgery at Bassett Medical Center. "It's helping us perform operations we couldn't do in the past. The robot arms are more flexible and articulate further, which is a great advantage when we are treating conditions in the abdominal wall or deep in the pelvis, abdominal wall hernias, and certain types of colorectal cancer."
SMALLER INCISIONS MEAN FASTER RECOVERY
Benefits to patients include significantly less pain, less blood loss, less scarring and shorter recovery times.
"With prostate surgery in particular, there is less blood loss, and the robot arms allow us to sew delicate tissue together more easily," says Dr. Hellenthal.
Bassett surgeons use the surgical system for kidney, bladder and colon surgeries; hysterectomies and other gynecologic surgeries; and to treat hiatal hernias and reflux disease.
"This technology is here to stay, and we will see it continue to evolve," says Dr. Hellenthal. "We are only just beginning to see the incredible benefits this technology has to offer."
