As recognized and respected leaders in the field of da Vinci® Robotic Surgery for prostate cancer, Dr. Christopher Knoedler and Dr. Robert Gaertner stay on top of the latest developments in their field. Recently they flew out to the headquarters of Intuitive Surgical in Sunnyvale, California to be introduced to a new robotic surgery prototype.
The doctors were asked to visit the headquarters of Intuitive Surgical to see the newest robot that is currently in development. They engaged with the engineers on a back and forth with their own ideas and suggestions on the new (were asked to help engineers trouble-shoot and refine this new) high tech piece of surgical equipment.
Currently when performing robotic prostate surgery, Drs. Knoedler and Gaertner create six small incisions. The new robot would reduce the number of sites that the instruments need to pass through from six to either two or three. When surgeries become less invasive it benefits patients with quicker recovery times.
The new version of the robot also allows the surgeons easy visual access to all four quadrants of the abdomen and allows them to operate in all four areas as well.
Dr. Knoedler and Dr. Gaertner are pioneers in the utilization of da Vinci Robotic Surgery and have trained hundreds of physicians in the use of this revolutionary technology. They were among the first doctors in the region to routinely use this robotic surgery system and have led the way in using it to improve the extremely challenging surgical procedure to remove the prostate gland (Prostatectomy). To date this team has performed more than 3,000 robotic surgeries.
In 1999 Intuitive Surgical introduced the da Vinci® Surgical System and today they are the global leaders in robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery. This technology features a 3D high definition vision system for a clean and magnified view inside the patient’s body. The instruments used bend and rotate far greater than the human wrist. The surgeon controls the system which translates hand movements into smaller, more precise movements of tiny instruments inside the patient’s body. This technology allows surgeons to perform complex procedures through a few small openings.