Woman gets hysterectomy with help from half-million dollar robot
Not long before Phyllis would be wheeled into Operating Room 5 for a hysterectomy. But this is no ordinary operating room; this one's equipped with a one and a half million dollar robot. A device with four arms and surgical tools as its fingertips, all controlled by Dr. Robert Graebe.
"In robotics, a lot of times you think it's an automatic process. You press a button and the hysterectomy is done and a half hour later you come back and turn the machine off. The machine doesn't do the surgery for me. I still do the surgery," says Dr. Graebe.
But he says what the DaVinci robot does is mimic or actually translate his hand movements. After small incisions are made, the doctor can maneuver around using tiny claws to grab onto tissue, cut, and cauterize it.
As you can see, this side here is totally absent from previous surgeries.
We see the surgery unfold on a flat panel, but the surgeon sees it in 3D.
The robotics wow factor aside, Dr. Graebe says there are clear advantages to using this robot. It's more precise, less invasive, and as a result there's less bleeding.
The patient's recovery is a lot quicker.
The doctor says Phyllis will be back on her feet the next day.
"That's cool. The smaller the incision, the better it is for me," Phyllis says. CNN
"In robotics, a lot of times you think it's an automatic process. You press a button and the hysterectomy is done and a half hour later you come back and turn the machine off. The machine doesn't do the surgery for me. I still do the surgery," says Dr. Graebe.
But he says what the DaVinci robot does is mimic or actually translate his hand movements. After small incisions are made, the doctor can maneuver around using tiny claws to grab onto tissue, cut, and cauterize it.
As you can see, this side here is totally absent from previous surgeries.
We see the surgery unfold on a flat panel, but the surgeon sees it in 3D.
The robotics wow factor aside, Dr. Graebe says there are clear advantages to using this robot. It's more precise, less invasive, and as a result there's less bleeding.
The patient's recovery is a lot quicker.
The doctor says Phyllis will be back on her feet the next day.
"That's cool. The smaller the incision, the better it is for me," Phyllis says. CNN
posted by Manoj at 11:25 AM
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