St. Clair Hospital Now Performing Robotic-Assisted Surgery on Prostate Cancer Patients

Surgeons at started using the da Vinci Si system to perform robotic-assisted, minimally invasive surgery to prostate cancer patients.

Urological surgeons Arthur D. Thomas, M.D. and Kevin P. Bordeau, M.D. completed the hospital's first robotic surgeries this month, performing radical prostatectomies on local patients suffering from prostate cancer.

"Among the many benefits of robotic-assisted surgery is the ability to do better surgical reconstruction," Dr. Thomas said. "In men who have their prostates partially or fully removed, robotic-assisted surgery can mean a faster return to urinary continence and lower rates of urinary pain. And the closer you can dissect to the prostate, the more nerve tissue you can spare, and the quicker the patient can recover and return to everyday life."

Other urological applications for the da Vinci system include repairing kidney blockages, and the full or partial removal of a kidney. 

"Like prostatectomies, these procedures also require very delicate work," Dr. Bordeau said.

The da Vinci system consists of four interactive robotic arms that are controlled by a surgeon who is positioned at the console in the operating room. Three of the arms are for tools, such as a grasper and scissors, the fourth holds an endoscopic camera with two lenses that gives the surgeon a 3-D image — at 10 times magnification — of the patient during the procedure. The system translates the surgeon's hand, wrist and finger movements into precise, real-time movements of surgical instruments. 

The da Vinci system is currently being used at St. Clair Hospital for patients who require prostatectomies or other urological procedures, but the system is also designed for gynecology, cardiothoracic, head and neck and general surgery procedures. Other surgeons are expected to use the new system in the near future.