4-armed robotic surgeon a precise device for cutting

Clarification The robotic radical prostatectomy procedure was approved by the FDA in 2001. However, whether the procedure results in less nerve damage than other prostatectomies is still being studied. Clarification inserted Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Wade Spees
The Post and Courier

With a practiced surgeon manning the controls, a robotic surgical device is demonstrated Friday in an operating room at Roper St. Francis Healthcare. The hospital will begin using its new machine for procedures starting in mid-July.

Choosing between standard surgery or a robotic procedure to remove his prostate gland was easy for Mark Wilson.

He would heal faster and have less pain. But most importantly, the robotic arms of the da Vinci Surgical System would make more precise cuts in an area most men don't want anyone going near with sharp objects.

Wilson, now a prostate cancer survivor, drove to Atlanta to have the robotic procedure last year. Patients soon will be able to have the same surgery at Roper St. Francis Healthcare.

The da Vinci consists of four robotic arms — three replace the hands of a surgeon and the fourth holds a camera. Doctors make five to six small incisions to insert the arms, rather than one incision that typically went from navel to pubic bone, said Dr. Dennis Kubinski, a urologist at Roper.

The surgeon operates the robotic arms from a console a few feet away, using hand and foot controls and a three-dimensional display.

"You just sit over there and run the show," Kubinski said.

The 3-D vision allows doctors to see how far the instruments are going inside the body and what they are grabbing, enabling doctors to maneuver in areas they couldn't before.

The robot also would be used to perform gynecological surgeries, hospital officials said.

Dr. T. Scott Jennings, who specializes in gynecology, oncology and obstetrics at Roper, has asked the hospital to buy the $1.5 million machine for the past two years.

"It makes surgery quite beautiful," Jennings said. "It's amazing how close you can see and how precise it can be."

Patients won't pay more for the procedure, but it will increase the number of patients seen, said Carrie Livingston, a Roper nurse.

Wilson works for Roper, but went to Atlanta for his radical prostatectomy. Though the robotic system was still being scientifically tested, Wilson said he felt he was less likely to suffer from nerve damage with it.

Raymond Jones, of Charlotte, who watched a demonstration of Roper's machine Friday, had the da Vinci procedure in May.

Jones didn't know what a prostate was until doctors told him he had cancer. The gland sits below the bladder and surrounds the urethra. "When you find out what it is, and where it is, you don't want them to mess with it," Jones said.

Reach Jessica Johnson at 745-5860 or jjohnson@postandcourier.com.

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