Baptist Health Paducah expands robotic surgery program with next-generation robot
Baptist Health Paducah has acquired the most advanced next-generation robotic technology - the da Vinci Xi Robot.
Baptist Health Paducah has acquired the most advanced next-generation robotic technology—the da Vinci Xi Robot.
Baptist Health Paducah physicians have been using the high-tech da Vinci robotic Surgical System to help perform minimally invasive procedures for more than a decade, but on Monday became the first western Kentucky hospital to use the da Vinci Xi from Intuitive.
“We are excited to combine the region’s only Centers of Excellence in Robotics Surgery (COERS) certified program and the newest platform in robotic surgery for our patients,” said urologist Donald Spicer, MD, medical director of Baptist Health Paducah robotic surgery. “The da Vinci Xi Surgical System, with integrated table motion and improved three-dimension, high definition visualization, allow us to perform multi-quadrant surgery. Increasingly complex procedures, such as being able to access the upper abdomen and the pelvis, can now be done with minimally invasive technology that decreases blood loss, shortens hospitalization and recovery time.”
For example, Dr. Spicer said the new technology allows surgeons to access the kidney and the bladder in the same case, without additional incisions or repositioning the patient in the middle of the surgery.
Robotic surgery is already being used for prostate, urinary and gynecological procedures, but the da Vinci Xi advances minimally invasive surgery to the next level. Surgical Services director Todd Gartner said some bariatric and general surgery procedures will be done robotically, after a training period.
“This is a game changer,” Gartner said. “This robot will allow more patients to have procedures done robotically than previously. It provides more flexibility for our surgeons.”
The da Vinci seamlessly translates the surgeon’s hand, wrist and finger movements into precise, real-time movements of surgical instruments inside the patient in an area smaller than would be required for the surgeon’s hands.
The new robot’s design, which integrates the operating table with the robotic technology, is more efficient and practical, which aids the surgeon and can shorten surgery time for patients.