Published: August 06, 2007 11:31 pm            

KDMC offers robotic-assisted surgery

Ashland — King’s Daughters Medical Center has added robotic-assisted surgery to its array of high-tech surgical innovations.

The da Vinci Surgical System is a state-of-the-art robotic-assisted surgery system that enables physicians to perform a broad range of complex procedures using minimally invasive techniques. The system allows a surgeon’s hand movements to be scaled, filtered and translated into precise movements of microinstruments within the operative site. The magnified, three-dimensional view enables the physician to perform precise surgery in complex procedures through small surgical incisions.

While conventional open surgical procedures often require large incisions, physicians using the system create tiny incisions, often smaller than a dime. Minimally invasive surgery enables physicians to perform many kinds of major surgery with less patient trauma and pain, said urologist Tim Dixon, M.D.

Dixon and fellow urologist William Boykin, M.D., are using the system to perform minimally invasive prostatectomy (removal of the prostate gland), recognized as the fastest-growing treatment for prostate cancer.

Other King’s Daughters physicians who will be utilizing the system include:

‰Richard Ford, M.D., and Brian Frederick, M.D., to perform minimally invasive hysterectomy, (removal of the uterus), a life-saving treatment for serious conditions such as cancer or uncontrollable bleeding.

‰Cardiothoracic surgeon Marcos Nores, M.D., to perform minimally invasive heart surgery to repair the mitral valve, which may be damaged because of coronary artery disease or infection.

For more information about the system, visit kdmc.com or davincisurgery.com or call (888) 377-KDMC.

        

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