A team of surgeons at the Pomona Valley Hospital Centre (PVHMC) has performed a robotic assisted surgery with the help of fluorescence imaging. This has made PVHMC as the first community hospital in California to carry out such a surgery.
The hospital was the first one in the area to make use of the da Vinci Surgical system during 2005. Now the hospital specialises in providing minimally invasive surgical technology by making use of the da Vinci Si, 3D, HD Surgical system and fluorescence imaging. The surgeons at the hospital used infrared fluorescence imaging to perform a prostatectomy on a patient. The patient recovered and was discharged within a short period of time.
According to Dr. Adam Hickerson, who headed the team that carried out this surgery, the infrared imaging technology helped them in identifying the nerves and the vessels that are located around the prostate in order to enhance the continence and potency. The main focus was to cure the disease with very little side effects.
The specialised camera, which is part of the da Vinci robotic surgical system, provides high definition images in 3D and takes images of the tissue located around the blood vessels by injecting a fluorescence dye in IndoCyanine Green. This dye is activated under infra red light and with this surgeons can take a look at the images of the tissue both under real time and under infra red light. Patients who are operated through minimally invasive procedures suffer less pain, less infection and can get back to their normal routines sooner without any side effects.
Source: http://www.pvhmc.org