Feb 21 2011
The da Vinci Robot, a four-armed surgical system that doctors have used in the past to perform minimally invasive surgery, is now a property of the Grand Rapids Public Museum.
Visitors of all ages who share a keen interest in watching body displays at Bodies Revealed can now try a hand at surgery using the da Vinci Robot.
The Grand Rapids Public Museum allows its visitors to sit behind a console and mimic the act of performing an operation. Local surgeons will provide updates on the breakthroughs achieved using the robot. All these topics will be covered as a part of the Health Care Lecture Series.
This surgical equipment combines advanced three-dimensional high definition vision to provide an amazing view of the surgery site. The physician, who performs the operation, sits at this machine’s console to obtain an unparalleled vision and precision. The physician can control the machine’s activities by adjusting the master controls. The machine is equipped with an endoscope and other small instruments to carry out safe and effective minimally invasive treatment for humans.
The da Vinci Robot was first used by Dr. Paul Rodriguez at the Saint Mary’s Health Care Center. The urologist has been using the da Vinci robot to conduct prostate surgery for the past four years. Till date, the physician has performed about 400 robotic surgeries with the robot. The urologist conducts a traditional surgery only for special cases.
The da Vinci robots were donated to Saint Mary’s Health Care and Spectrum Health, which is a not-for-profit health system in West Michigan. Since its introduction in 2006, several surgeries have been performed, most of them being urological procedures. About 2,700 robotic surgeries were performed in Grand Rapids and about 5,000 took place in West Michigan after the use of the da Vinci robot.
Rodriguez predicts that, in future, technology will be developed in more advanced ways to treat kidney tumors.
Source: http://www.grmuseum.org/