Robot Lends Surgeons a Helping Hand at PVH

For more information on robotic surgery at Poudre Valley Hospital, ask your physician or visit their websire: www.intuitivesurgical.com.

The road to recovery just got shorter for surgical patients at Poudre Valley Hospital, thanks to the landmark da Vinci™ Surgical System. The robotic system, in use at Poudre Valley Hospital since October 2004, enables surgeons to perform minimally invasive procedures for gynecology, prostate and heart patients who otherwise would have open surgeries.

The result is dramatic. Patients go home the day of their surgery or spend one night in the hospital instead of five, and they recover in one or two weeks instead of eight.

"I was back to work in a week," said Karen Taylor, who had a hysterectomy performed by Dr. Warren James with the da Vinci system.

Poudre Valley Hospital is the only site in Colorado and one of only six in the surrounding eight-state region using the da Vinci for gynecologic procedures. In fact, da Vinci manufacturer, Intuitive Surgical, ranks the gynecologic expertise of the PVH robotics team among the top 15 in the country and is looking to PVH as a national training site.

How It Works
During a robotic procedure, the surgeon makes four pencil-size incisions in the patient and inserts a robotic arm through each opening. One of the arms holds a camera with 10X magnification, and the other three hold microsurgical instruments with the same full range of motion as the surgeon's wrist and hand. The surgeon then sits at a console a few feet from the patient and remotely, very precisely and in real-time operates the microsurgical instruments.

"It's just like my hand," said Dr. James, who pioneered gynecologic procedures at Poudre Valley Hospital.

For patients, the robotic system means smaller incisions, less pain, lower risk of infection and a shorter hospital stay, Dr. James said. They also have a much faster recovery and less scarring.

For prostate patients, the robot means an additional benefit, said Dr. Stephen Brutscher, who performs prostate surgery with the da Vinci system. With traditional prostate removal surgery, patients have a 40 to 50 percent risk of nerve damage, causing impotence and sometimes incontinence; with the robotic system, the risk is 15 to 20 percent lower.

"It really is a much easier procedure for the patient," Dr. Brutscher said.