Robot assisted prostate surgery? Uhh--you first.
(Credit:
da Vinci Prostatectomy)
Surgeons are using a four armed robot to perform prostate surgery.
The procedure is called the da Vinci Prostatectomy, "a new, less-invasive approach to prostate removal," according to the Swedish Medical Center.
Actually, it's no joke; an estimated 230,000 men in the US are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year and the da Vinci Surgical System promises to help surgeons perform the surgery with greater precision while speeding patient recovery.
Interested? Call 1-800-SWEDISH and let us know how it goes.
Mark Rutherford is a West Coast-based freelance writer. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and is not an employee of CNET. Email him at markr@milapp.com. Disclosure. 
and have been for some time now. Many centers, including here in Louisville KY
have a great experience with the davinci. It is not like a robot is doing the
procedure, it is all guided by a surgeon. Current applications as I understand
include not only prostate surgery but also cardiac applications.
So is Swedish Medical Center, since Swedish is a local [i]Seattle, WA[/i] hospital group.
Traditional open surgery involves a seven inch incision, 7-10 days in the hospital, 6-8 week recovery time, one to two pints of blood for transfusion.
It was invented in Germany in 1986--a number of hospitals in the US have the equipment.
- Interested in viewing these type of surgeries?
- by bryan1030 April 2, 2007 8:29 AM PDT
- Check out www.OR-Live.com. Archives of numerous robotic prostatectomy
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(5 Comments)surgeries can be viewed