Retired junior high science teacher John Deutsch has a soft spot for medicine and technology. That’s part of the reason he didn’t hesitate when his doctor mentioned using a robot for assistance in surgically removing his left kidney, which was enlarged and not functioning well.

“It sounded like a great opportunity,” the Darien resident says. “Afterward, I was reading an article in a medical journal about how patients treated with the da Vinci^® surgical system can recover more quickly with less pain than patients who undergo traditional surgery.”

Following surgery, Deutsch spent about two days in the hospital. Although he remained a bit sore two weeks after his surgery, he moved about freely and looks forward to gardening again. A biopsy performed on the tumor located on Deutsch’s removed kidney came back positive for cancer. A CAT scan of his chest, abdomen and torso showed that the cancer had not spread to those areas but he is undergoing additional tests to determine if it spread elsewhere.

A perfect match
Dr. Joel Cornfield, the urologist who performed Deutsch’s nephrectomy, says the da Vinci Surgical System is well suited for such procedures.

“From a surgeon’s perspective, the da Vinci is easy to use,” Dr. Cornfield says. “Mr. Deutsch’s surgery went very well.”

Adventist Hinsdale Hospital recently purchased the robotic device to enable surgeons to perform complicated surgical procedures in a minimally invasive manner. Built-in safety features reduce potential risk to the patient deriving from human error.

To operate the da Vinci Surgical System, the surgeon sits at a console near the patient. The robot itself holds the surgical tools and, guided by a high-power camera, the surgeon moves the robot’s four arms. The robot’s jointed “wrists” duplicate the surgeon’s own hand movements.

In conventional laparoscopy, the surgeon stands while he operates and uses hand-held instruments that contain long shafts and no wrists.

The da Vinci’s monitoring system provides the surgeon with a clear, colored, magnified, 3-D view of the patient’s anatomy. By contrast, the pictures produced during traditional laparoscopic surgery contain only two dimensions and the surgeon must look away from the patient to view these pictures.

Learn more about the da Vinci by reading “Minimally Invasive Procedures with the da Vinci Surgical System.”