By Alex Kiester, Picayune Intern

In the center of a white, sterilized operating room in the Westlake Medical Center lies a robot, an embodiment of advancements in surgical technique so extreme, that it draws patients from around the world, even as far away as Australia.  ” 

The da Vinci, manufactured by Intuitive Surgical to minimize the invasive aspects of surgery, was used recently by Dr. Randy Fagin of the urologic team to conduct a prostatectomy. 

It’s “one of the single most revolutionary machines,” Fagin said. “It’s changing everything.

To focus before the operation, Fagin started a country song on his Ipod and settled into his seat, facing not the patient but a machine that looks oddly like an elaborate virtual video game with two handles, four foot pedals and two eye holes with a chin rest. Just as the song’s chorus began, Fagin slipped his hands into the grips, and the robot’s arms, located six feet away, simultaneously sprang to life. 

The da Vinci loomed just above the patient, connected via wires to its controls, which are utilized by the surgeon. The design allows the robot’s hands, instead of the surgeon’s infinitely bigger ones, to penetrate the patient’s body, thus requiring smaller incisions. 

The robot has four arms, one equipped with a camera while the other three control tool heads. These heads are a mere 5 millimeters in diameter and have complete 360-degree rotation capabilities. Because of their complete mobility and agility, the need for about 60 tools to perform a single surgery is a demand of the past. The da Vinci’s five different tool heads are now completely sufficient for the job.

The three tools worked seamlessly in the patient’s body, completely in sync with his hand movements. The robot’s tiny camera remained stationary until Fagin commanded its movement with a touch of a foot pedal and navigated it to the best vantage point.  

The camera, although minute in size, ensures both accurate depth perception and detail. Its right image projects to the surgeon’s right eye and its left image to the surgeon’s left eye. Not only is the image perfectly accurate, it is magnified 10 times, projecting a picture otherwise impossible for the human eye to see. This newly acquired vantage point and picture are the best ever available to a surgeon. 

Although the da Vinci  is most commonly used for prostatectomies, it has drastically decreased the failure rate of a vast array of surgeries. These procedures include gastric bypass, hysterectomy and even some cardiac applications. 

The benefits of the da Vinci come from many of the robot’s design features.  

To start, the surgeon sits during the surgery, preserving the doctor’s energy. Also, the increased mobility and accuracy offered by the robotic arms and camera helps the surgeon remove the affected area more completely and precisely while at the same time allowing the surgeon to avoid dangers such as contact with nerve sacks.

In fact, the robot arms are so precise they can thread a needle and neutralize any tremors detected in a surgeon’s hands. 

Because the da Vinci reduces the patient’s physical trauma, recovery times have been reduced too. Patients, on average, now take only about three days to recover from a procedure, a brief period when compared to the lengthy time in bed due to operations prior to  da Vinci. Also, patients now require less post-operative pain management because of the smaller incisions and less collateral damage. 

These da Vinci benefits help control health care costs to patient and hospital alike. The hospital pays less to finance a patient’s abbreviated post-operative hospital stay, and patients pay less in pain-medication costs. Meanwhile, recovered patients can return to work faster. And, treatment with da Vinci costs no more than older surgical methods.

Like Dr. Fagin, surgeons across the country have embraced the da Vinci, proof of its benefits to patients and doctors alike.  This robot introduces a new age in medical care.