da Vinci Surgical System

Deaconess uses the da Vinci® Xi surgical system for performing minimally-invasive procedures at Deaconess Gateway Hospital and The Women’s Hospital. This surgical system uses robotic arms equipped with long, skinny surgical instruments, along with an endoscopic camera, that enter the patient's abdomen or chest via relatively small incisions. This method provides a magnified, 3-D view of the surgical site and helps the surgeon operate with precision, flexibility and control.

Although this robotic system contains the most advanced instrumentation, vision and features available, it doesn’t operate independently. Your surgeon performs surgery with da Vinci by using instruments that he or she guides via a console.

The da Vinci system translates your surgeon’s hand movements at the console in real time, bending and rotating the instruments while performing the procedure. The tiny wristed instruments move like a human hand, but with a greater range of motion. The da Vinci vision system also delivers highly magnified, 3D high-definition views of the surgical area. Additionally, the instrument size makes it possible for surgeons to operate through one or a few small incisions instead of large incisions used in traditional “open” procedures.

Potential benefits of robotic surgery include less pain, lower risk of infection, faster recovery, less scarring, fewer blood transfusions, a shorter hospital stay and a quicker return to normal daily activity.

Procedures most commonly performed at Deaconess using da Vinci include:

Colorectal Surgery

Includes right colectomy, sigmoid colectomy, low anterior resection, rectal resection, abdominal perineal resection and diverticulosis of the colon

General Surgery

Includes complex hernia repair

Gynecologic Surgery

Includes hysterectomy, sacrocolpopexy (pelvic organ prolapse), myomectomy (uterine fibroids), and other procedures related to the female reproductive system

Thoracic Surgery

Includes pulmonary lobectomy (lung surgery) and mediastinal mass/tumor surgery

Urologic Surgery

Includes prostate, bladder and kidney surgery