When using the Da Vinci Robot to perform bariatric surgery I begin the operation at the operating table placing the robotic scope and instruments as I would in a standard laparoscopic operation. I then sit at a consol in the same operating room and thereafter all robotic movements of instruments are controled by me.
The veiw is much better because I can see in 3-D since the scope is a binocular scope. Also most of the instruments are "wristed" alowing me to reach angles that are not possible with standard laparoscopic techniques. If I need an instrument to be changed the first assistant and scrub nurse are continuously at the side of the patient and they will remove one instrument from the robot and attach another at my command. Interestingly, the robot "remembers" exactly where the previous instrument is located within the abdomen and placed the instrument in the same location only a short distance from the previous point to protect the patient from any possible injury.
The placement of stitches is more exact and I am able to see much better with the robot than with other techniques.
I am very pleased Riverside Methodist Hospital presently has 2 of these advanced robots with a third to be installed by mid-September.
Written by Stephan Myers, MD, FACS, bariatric surgeon in Columbus, Ohio.
This sounds facinating. Are all the insurance companies allowing this procedure?
ReplyDeleteI should have written...Are all the insurance companies covering this procedure.
ReplyDeleteYes. The surgeon still bills the insurance company for a laparoscopic gastric bypass just as usual. The robot is an assistance to the laparoscopic operation. To my knowlege the hospital charges to the insurance company are the same although I do not know this for sure.
ReplyDelete