Surgeons Perform Robotic Hysterectomies

Santa Fe, NM, Friday October 2, 2009 - CHRISTUS St. Vincent Regional Medical Center today announced that is has become one of only a handful of facilities across the country offering an alternative to the traditional surgical approach by using the da Vinci® Surgical System.

The da Vinci Surgical System provides robotic surgery technology that allows for minimally invasive, state-of-the-art procedures to be performed on patients.

Surgeons perform 600,000 hysterectomies each year in the United States alone. 65% of those performed are total abdominal hysterectomies, 10% are laparoscopic-assisted vaginal hysterectomies (LAVH) and 25% are vaginal hysterectomies. Despite general preference for minimally invasive procedures, the majority of these surgeries are still performed using large incisions.

Using the da Vinci Surgical System, the surgeon operates while seated comfortably at a console viewing a 3D image of the surgical field. The surgeon's fingers grasp the master controls below the display, with hands and wrists naturally positioned relative to his or her eyes. The system seamlessly translates the surgeon's hand, wrist and finger movements into precise, real-time movements of surgical instruments inside the patient.

Many surgical procedures performed today using standard laparoscopic technique may be performed more quickly and easily using the da Vinci Surgical System. This is because the da Vinci Surgical System delivers increased clinical capability while maintaining the same "look and feel" of open surgery.

Traditional laparoscopy has never become widely applied outside a limited set of routine procedures. Only a select group of highly skilled surgeons routinely attempt complex procedures using a minimally invasive approach. The da Vinci Surgical System finally allows more surgeons to perform complex procedures using a minimally invasive approach - routinely and with confidence.

A number of procedures that could not be performed using traditional MIS technologies can now be performed using the da Vinci Surgical System. The advanced feature set and extensive EndoWrist® instrumentation of the da Vinci Surgical System enable surgeons to perform more procedures through 1-2 cm incisions.

By enhancing surgical capabilities, the da Vinci Surgical System helps to improve clinical outcomes and redefine standards of care. Patients may experience the following benefits: reduced trauma to the body, reduced blood loss and need for transfusions, less post-operative pain and discomfort, less risk of infection, shorter hospital stay, faster recovery and return to normal daily activities, and less scarring and improved cosmesis.*

CHRISTUS St. Vincent Regional Medical Center is a community-based, private, not-for-profit hospital serving more than 300,000 people in seven counties in northern New Mexico. CHRISTUS St. Vincent was founded in 1865 by the Sisters of Charity and is New Mexico's first hospital and the largest private employer in Santa Fe. In April 2008, CHRISTUS Health and St. Vincent finalized the formation of a partnership that allowed St. Vincent to benefit from the resources of the international 40-hospital system. CHRISTUS St. Vincent is designated as a "sole community provider" by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.

For More Information Please Contact:
Arturo Delgado
Phone: (505) 699-6400