"The robot can't do anything without the surgeon," Bordan stressed. "It's really an assistant." He said "no matter how rock steady" a doctor is when operating, all of us are subject to inaccuracies in movement, such as tremoring. That's why this robot, which eliminates the human flaws, is so helpful, he added. "It makes your movements more accurate and much more precise," he said. "And now the instrument ends are articulated so you can move in directions other than just up and down and left and right."
Doctors operate through several dime-size incisions, which results in less bleeding, post-operative pain and scarring. As a result, patients generally recover much faster, Bordan said. Officials of Intuitive Surgical said the robotic arms on the new system provide surgeons with a greater range of motion. Doctors say this is especially helpful for operations such as some cancer surgery involving reaching lesions deep in the throat.
The system is also easier to set up and disassemble than the original da Vinci, in part because the robot is motorized, said Alexis Morgan, a spokeswoman for Intuitive Surgical. The system was named for Leonardo da Vinci, who is reputed to have invented the robot, Morgan said. Two weeks ago, John Leffler, 63, of Sparta underwent a minimally invasive operation at Newark Beth Israel, using the latest robotic system, to remove part of his prostate gland. He stayed in the hospital just one night, and his recovery has been a speedy one.
Leffler said he was out of bed and walking around with assistance the night of the surgery, which amazed him. "I was pleasantly surprised because I know sometimes there can be some complications afterward like bladder control," he said. "I didn't experience that." Leffler, an administrator at Montclair State University, said he knew his surgeon, Domenic Savatta, would be assisted by a robot, but he read up on the technology and was comfortable with it. "I think the skills are in the surgeon's hands, no matter which way you are doing it," he said.