The newest member of Flushing Hospital’s surgical team has been described as world renowned and a revolutionary in the field of minimally invasive surgery. This prestigious new member of the team also needs to be plugged into an electrical outlet.
The da Vinci Robotic Surgical platform is now at Flushing Hospital, offering our patients the most technologically advanced surgical system in the entire region.
Robotic surgery has been available for a number of years and offers patients many benefits, including minimal pain, faster recovery time, less blood loss, and shorter hospital stays. What makes Flushing Hospital’s robotic platform so exciting, however, is the new single-site robotic technology it offers.
The single-site robotic platform provides Flushing Hospital’s surgeons the same increased dexterity, control and high definition 3-D vision found in traditional robotic surgery, as well as the added benefit of performing some operations through a single, nearly invisible scar hidden in the patient’s naval. Previous surgeries might require multiple incisions or one larger incision. “This technology offers a tremendous cosmetic benefit to our patients and underscores Flushing Hospital’s commitment to providing the highest level of surgical care, using the most advanced minimally invasive surgical options,” stated Dr . Neil Mandava, Chairman of Surgery at Flushing Hospital.
In addition, da Vinci is equipped with Fluorescence Imaging Vision, also known as Firefly. This feature combines fluorescent dye with a specialized camera, endoscope, and laser based illuminator, allowing surgeons to identify blood flowing through vessels and tissue in 3-D during minimally invasive surgeries.
During a robotic procedure, the surgeon sits comfortably at a console, viewing a 3-D, high definition image of the patient’s anatomy. The surgeon uses controls below the viewer to move the instruments arms and camera. In real-time, the system translates the surgeon’s hands, wrist, and finger movements into more precise of the miniaturized instruments inside the patient.
Flushing Hospital is planning its first single-site robotic procedure later this month. While many of the hospital’s surgeons are already trained and certified, many more are completing their training on the da Vinci Skills Simulator and plan to fully take advantage of the many surgical applications the da Vinci system has to offer.
Flushing Hospital is also planning a “Robot Week” where employees and community members will have an opportunity to meet and name da Vinci in the near future.