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Robot Lends a Hand at HSR
http://www.conntact.com/article_page.lasso?id=40035
Business New Haven
06/26/2006 by BNH NEW HAVEN - The Hospital of Saint Raphael has introduced the newest member of its surgical team to the public: a sophisticated robot that makes operations faster, more precise and less invasive. The da Vinci surgical system is used almost daily at the hospital for everything from cancer surgery to hysterectomies, according to Robert Samuelson, MD, director of gynecology at Saint Raphael's.
The robot's specialty is laparoscopic surgery, in which miniature instruments are inserted into an incision through a small tube to minimize blood loss and complications. With the da Vinci system, a surgeon operates an array of flexible robot pinchers from a remote station. The surgeon watches the procedure through an eyepiece as he or she directs the robots' movements with a game-like controller.
"[Da Vinci] can do things that our old laparoscopic instruments could never do," Samuelson said. "There's a lot more opportunity to do minimally invasive surgery."
The robotic arms can stitch, cut and rotate in all directions. The $1.5 million system allows for finer manipulation of laparoscopic instruments, although the surgeon is always in control. Saint Raphael's is the only hospital in the area with the da Vinci system.
"The blood loss is less because your visualization is better," Samuelson said. Recovery time is about the same as traditional laparoscopic surgery, "but it's certainly less than conventional open surgery."
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06-26-2006, 10:50 PM
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