Robot Makes Surgery Less Invasive

That's neat, and all, but it has been around for a decade. I'm in Philly, where Jefferson and Penn were among the first to get one, but even the community hospitals have them now.

I just had a DaVinci surgery at Penn in March. While this surgery is 'potentially' less invasive keep in mind that it has it's issues too. I chose DV because it was supposed to be a shorter recovery. Instead the very first incision made by the machine punctured my intestines flooding my body with bacteria. The docs/nurses refused to believe anything was wrong for several hours and as a result I had emergency surgery the following day, almost died, spent a week in ICU, a week on the cath floor, two weeks at home on IV antibiotics and a huge incision in my abdomen. It's been about two months and I'm still getting treatment for this and it will be several months before I'm back to normal (if then). While DaVinci is a nice tool try to remember that it is just as risky as any surgery and comes with it's own flaws. Do your research before ANY surgery.

Yikes, BB, I'm so sorry to hear. Hope you're well now. I've witnessed heart valve replacement surgery at Penn, and the patient was out of the bed the next day. The DaVinci is only as good as the surgeon behind the machine.

It also seems that people use it for the sake of using it. It's a good marketing hook. There was a study not too long ago that showed that using DaVinci for prostate surgery was no better than conventional surgery (just more expensive).

I don't think anybody would want robots doing any kind of operations on them.

Reminds me of a short story about a robot meeting the last human. The man malfunctions, so the robot turns the man off for repairs, but somehow can't turn him back on.

i'm sorry you had to go through that BB! sadly, your results are more common than the advertisers would like people to know.

i saw a woman in the ICU who had gone in for a hysterectomy (if i remember correctly) using the da vinci. they also nicked her bowel, and her end result included weeks in the ICU, a colostomy, and an abdominoplasty.

as per one of the surgeons trying to put her back together, true mastery of the da vinci takes at least 900 hrs (per procedure mind you). most doctors start performing surgeries solo after a 2 hours workshop put on by the manufacturer and less than 100 hours of working with another surgeon with more experience.

i'm definitely not a luddite, but then again i am not quite ready or willing to bow down to robot overlords just yet...

I had my prostate out in 2006 with the di Vinci robot and could not have asked for a better outcome. One hour after the op. I was walking in the hall and ready to go home. I had to stay 2 nights because they wanted to make sure I was stable and the hospital needed the money. I stayed at home for a few days and then flew to Calif. for a week.

Even the removal of the catheter was painless and the bladder control returned within 2 weeks.

I have a number of friends who have had the old style prostatectomy and most say that the recovery time was up to 6 months. Many said that even after 3 months they could not pick up a cup of coffee off a table without having the feeling that their stomach was falling out.

The di Vinci is going to be the way of future medicine. With medical costs what they are getting the patient out of the hospital asap is where is happening.