The Commercial Appeal has revealed that it was almost ten years since robotic surgery was introduced in Memphis and now five robots were helping to perform over 1000 operations every year, with one robot each in the Methodist University and Methodist Germantown and Methodist North and two robots in the Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis.
These robots help to remove kidneys and prostates, replace heart valves, cut out cancerous lung lobes and conduct hysterectomies, neck and head surgeries, and the patients have a faster recovery time and suffer less pain when compared to the traditional surgeries. Statistics reveal that at the Baptist every year, 500-550 robotic surgeries were carried out while in the Methodist, 491 surgeries had been performed.
Initially, learning how to utilize the system was time consuming; however, as time passed the doctors became more accustomed to the process and understood the benefits of the robotic procedures. According to Dr. Todd Tillmanns, who is the President of the Memphis Robotic Surgical Society and a gynecologic oncologist, the minimal access surgery performed had smaller incisions with much less damage inflicted on the localized tissue, even less blood loss, and faster recovery times with less pain for the patients. He revealed that over 95% of the patients who underwent robotic gynecologic surgeries went home after staying in the hospital for less than a day, whereas for a traditional surgery, the patient would have had to stay for three or even four days at the hospital. Moreover, 75% of the patients did not consume pain medication and were back to their normal routines inside three to seven days. The robotic surgery was costlier than a laparoscopic procedure but worked out to be less expensive than conventional surgery.
Dr. Sandeep Samant, who is the head of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s head and neck surgery division, reveals that the robotic surgeries for head and neck were being carried out in a very few select hospitals in the US, of which the Methodist University was one. Dr. Samant uses the robotic system to cauterize blood vessels, remove tumors and suction fluids by manipulating the robots hand and foot controls from a console nearby. He performed a surgical procedure for the removal of a cancerous growth in the throat of a 56 year old Retired Air Force employee, James Entrekin. The whole procedure took two hours to complete without cutting open his throat and face and breaking his jaw, leading to a shorter recovery period and the patient did not have any difficulties in speaking and swallowing. Dr Samant discloses that natural anatomy was not violated when robotic surgery was done. The patient did experience a few minor complications but was relatively pain free and was to begin radiation therapy from April.
Source: http://www.commercialappeal.com