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—Monmouth Medical Center’s da Vinci S Surgical System to Be Featured at Oceanfest—
LONG BRANCH, NJ –Monmouth Medical Center, an affiliate of the Saint Barnabas Health Care System, remains the only hospital in Monmouth County to offer the next generation of minimally invasive surgery with the da Vinci® S Surgical System. The da Vinci S Surgical System, which will be featured on the boardwalk at Oceanfest on July 4, combines computer and robotic technologies with the skills of a surgeon to create a new category of surgical treatment. By enhancing surgical capabilities, robotic surgery is helping to improve clinical outcomes and redefine standards of care.
The da Vinci system is a tool that enables surgeons to perform even the most complex and delicate procedures with greater precision and in a minimally invasive way. The technology lends itself especially well to intricate gynecological operations such as hysterectomies (removal of the uterus), removal of fibroids or ovarian masses, correction of vaginal prolapse (in which the vagina falls out of its normal position) and treatment of endometrial or prostate cancers.
The system comprises two parts: a robotic cart with four mechanical arms (one holds a 3-D camera, three manipulate surgical tools) that sits beside the anesthetized patient, and a console, located 8 to 10 feet away, at which the surgeon sits. At the console, the doctor views a 3-D image of the operative field. This live picture is captured by the camera inserted in the patient via one of several 2-centimeter incisions. (With traditional open surgery only one vertical incision is made, and it can be as large as 12 to 18 centimeters, which takes much longer to heal.)
“The instruments themselves are much more sophisticated than those used in traditional open surgeries,” adds Sandra Greco, M.D., Monmouth’s section chief of female pelvic medicine and pelvic reconstructive surgery. She’s been performing robotic vaginal prolapse repairs for the past year, and explains that the robotic system can bend, twist and dexterously curve around corners in a way that is impossible in standard surgery.
The da Vinci S Surgical System provides surgeons with an alternative to both open surgery and traditional laparoscopy, allowing surgeons to perform even the most complex and delicate procedures through very small incisions with greater precision, superior visualization, enhanced dexterity, and ergonomic comfort for the optimal performance of minimally invasive surgery. The advanced feature set and extensive Endo Wrist® instrumentation of the System enables surgeons to overcome the significant technical drawbacks of traditional laparoscopy such as the fixed-wrist instruments that limit the surgeon’s dexterity. As a result, some of the more technically demanding surgeries, such as a prostatectomy, where conventional open surgery is the standard approach, can now be performed with a minimally invasive approach.
Robert Graebe, M.D., chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at Monmouth Medical Center, explained the benefits of using the robot. “Adoption of laparoscopic techniques, for the most part, has been limited to routine procedures. Robotics now enables surgeons to take a minimally invasive approach to surgery for more complex cases where open surgery was considered the standard protocol. As a result, there are typically shorter recovery times, less pain, less blood loss, fewer transfusions, fewer infections and reduced hospitalization costs.”
Dr. Graebe added that the major benefits of using the robotic system for surgeons over traditional approaches are greater surgical precision, increased range of motion, improved dexterity, enhanced visualization and improved access. It cannot be programmed, nor can it make decisions on its own to move the surgical instruments. Robotic surgery may improve surgical outcomes and patient safety.
For example, the robotic system has already transformed the field of prostate surgery. Robotic surgery enables the surgeon to perform a wide array of urologic procedures, most specifically a prostatectomy, with a minimally invasive approach (through 1-2 cm incisions), when conventional open surgery is the standard. A surgeon can remove the walnut-size prostate and lymph nodes, and reattach the bladder to the urethra without once putting his/her hands inside the patient. Three robotic arms that are used in the incisions hold a camera and surgical instruments that are able to dissect and suture the tissue of the prostate. Unlike conventional “open” surgery, these instruments are not directly touched by the surgeon’s hands. He or she looks into a viewfinder to examine 3-D images being sent by the camera inside the patient. Joystick controls, located just under the screen, are used by the surgeon to manipulate the surgical instruments. The system is so sophisticated that the joysticks and the surgical instruments move in sync with the precise movements of the surgeon’s hands.
Drs. Vincent Lanteri, Michael Esposito and Mutahar Ahmed, urological surgeons specialize in robotic prostatectomy at Monmouth Medical Center. They have performed the most robotic prostatectomy procedures in the state of New Jersey with more than 800 surgeries performed. Through this technique, risks and complications are reduced, recoveries are easier and shorter, and results are better. For instance, long-term incontinence and impotence are much less likely, there is less pain and risk of infection, the procedure is considered "bloodless" and the return to normal activity is much quicker.
One in six American men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, according to the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Each year, an estimated 234,460 men nationwide will be diagnosed including more than 7,720 who live in New Jersey.
Lanteri and Esposito have earned a reputation among the patient and medical communities alike as trailblazers in the specialty of Robotic Prostatectomy. The doctors have performed the most procedures of this kind in New Jersey and literally “wrote the book” on the topic as they prepare to launch the first-ever textbook of Robotic Urology Surgery in 2007. The pair has also been voted among the best doctors by New Jersey Monthly, New York Magazine and selected by Castle Connolly as "Top Doctors for Cancer in America.” The teachers to the surgeons, they are among the elite physicians who train other surgeons throughout the United States and Europe on how to perform Robotic Prostatectomy.
“We are thrilled and honored to offer for the first time the life-saving capabilities of robotic prostate cancer surgery to Monmouth County-area patients,” said Dr. Lanteri. “Our mission is to touch as many lives as possible with this cutting-edge technique. We’ve already saved hundreds of lives and we look forward to saving hundreds, even thousands, more in the years to come.”
For a referral to a Monmouth Medical Center performing Robotic Surgery or for more information, call 1-888-724-7123.
CONTACT: Kristine A. Brown
Director of Public Relations
732-557-3902
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