AUBURN, IND. – June 21, 2023 – Parkview DeKalb Hospital has entered a new era in patient care. The hospital has launched a robotic surgery program using the da Vinci® Surgical System.
While the term “robotic surgery” may bring to mind the image of a machine operating on a patient, the “robot” is simply a high-tech device that is fully operated by an experienced surgeon. The system enables the surgeon to view structures inside the patient’s body in very fine detail and perform delicate operations with a high degree of precision. Incisions can be smaller and the entire process less invasive than traditional surgery.
For patients, the benefits of robotic surgery can be significant: less blood loss during procedures, less pain during recovery, shorter hospital stays, minimal scarring and lower risk of infection and complications.
“We are very excited to be able to offer patients the prospect of a quicker, smoother recovery so they can get back to their lives faster,” said Tasha Eicher, market president, Parkview Health Northeast/Ohio. “Our surgeons have been well trained on the da Vinci system and are already seeing improved outcomes for patients. The hospital board and I are so proud of the work our co-workers and physicians have put into making robotic surgery a new service we can provide to area residents.”
Housed in one of the hospital’s four operating suites, the system is a means of enhancing a surgeon’s skills and dexterity. Typically, the provider controls the movable arms of the device while seated at a computerized console. The console gives the surgeon a high-definition, magnified, 3-D view of the surgical site. Then, using hand and finger movements, the physician manipulates the highly specialized instruments to perform very specific functions, allowing for even the tiniest movements. This enables the surgeon to reach and precisely alter structures deep within a patient’s abdomen through small incisions.
“I think a lot of people have the misconception that a machine is doing the surgery, or that we are sitting in another room while this machine is performing the surgery,” said Jessica Bartock, DO, FACOS, general surgeon with Parkview Physicians Group (PPG) – General Surgery. “I want them to know that the system is simply an extension of our hands. We are still there in the operating room and actually performing the procedure every step of the way.”
Bartock explained that while physicians already know anatomy and procedures from their formal surgical training, they must also undergo about 20-30 hours of specific training and classwork in using the robotic system and must perform several “proctored” surgeries under the supervision of experienced system users before they can begin using it with their own patients. Parkview’s clinical robotics surgical coordinator assists with the training process for surgeons and operating room personnel, coordinating with representatives of Intuitive, the company that created the da Vinci system.
“The da Vinci robot allows us to do procedures more efficiently and with better safety for the patients in our care,” said Bartock. “It allows us to move so fluidly and seamlessly in all planes and is essentially an extension of our hands within the abdomen. With its excellent camera, the visualization it allows is far superior, and the system gives surgeons more control of their instruments. There was a learning curve getting adjusted to the movements, but I am amazed by what it allows us to do – and offer to our patients – every time I use it.”
Bartock said she saw benefits for patients immediately.
“For me, the major change was for patients undergoing hernia repairs,” she said. “We are getting patients back to normal activity in half the time. Pain following the procedure is less. Incisions are much smaller and fewer in number. I am a firm believer in being experienced with robotic, laparoscopic and traditional surgical approaches, but with the benefits robotic surgery offers, it is not surprising that it is being used more and more across the surgical fields.”
At Parkview DeKalb Hospital, robotic surgery is currently being used for gallbladder removal, hernia repair, laparoscopic-assisted vaginal hysterectomy, and endometriosis, plus diagnostic laparoscopy. In addition to Bartock, Parkview Physicians Group (PPG) general surgeon Elizabeth Herber, MD, and PPG OB/GYNs Lars Langschwager, MD, and Joshua Leichty, DO, MPH, are all using the surgical system for their patients who are appropriate candidates based on their medical conditions.
The Parkview DeKalb Hospital campus is located at 1316 E. 7th St. in Auburn.