Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island announced its plans to expand the surgical options available to its patients with the installation of a da Vinci® Surgical System and the creation of the region's first dedicated women's robotic surgery program.

"Women & Infants is the region's resource for women. We are excited to be able to now offer women the latest in minimally invasive surgery with a new surgical robot," said Constance A. Howes, president and CEO of Women & Infants. "Robotic surgery means shorter hospitalizations and faster recoveries for patients, as well as less blood loss and a lower risk of complications."

Women & Infants surgeons have been performing robotic surgery through a collaboration with The Miriam Hospital, which has the state's only other surgical robot. The purchase of a $1.9-million da Vinci® Surgical System - a plan approved by the director of the state Department of Health and the Health Services Council - enables Women & Infants to expand the program.
Robotic surgery will begin on a limited basis at Women & Infants on April 26, and the program will launch completely in June.

Surgery approved for the Women & Infants robotic surgery program includes:

-Hysterectomy for benign conditions like abnormal bleeding or pain
-Hysterectomy for uterine, ovarian and cervical cancer
-Cancer staging
-Complex surgery for endometriosis
-Sacrocolpopexy, a urogynecology procedure to prevent prolapse and incontinence
-Myomectomy, the surgical removal of uterine fibroids to preserve fertility
-Fallopian tube surgery to preserve fertility

Several Women & Infants surgeons are already certified in robotic surgery and many of the traditional surgeries being performed at the hospital will be eligible for the robot approach. The area saw a dramatic increase in the use of robotic surgery after the first system was installed and a similar trend is expected for gynecologic procedures at Women & Infants. The hospital estimates that 260 robotic procedures will be performed in fiscal year 2011, 330 in fiscal year 2012, and 400 in fiscal year 2013.

"Many surgeries that are now performed via a large abdominal incision will be candidates for the robotic approach," said Christina Bandera, MD, director of the hospital's Robotic Surgery Program.

Cutting-edge technology
The da Vinci® Surgical System - named after the inventor and Renaissance man who sketched a prototype of the first robot as a system of pulleys - is a type of laparoscopic surgery that uses a three-dimensional camera and instruments with great range of motion. The technology was originally explored in the late 1980s as a way for military surgeons to operate on battlefield patients from behind the front lines.

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