Imagine major surgery combining your surgeon’s skill and expertise with robotic precision. And imagine if this could happen in an area about the size of a dime. It’s not only possible. It’s happening at Capital Health.

Using the da Vinci® Surgical System, trained surgeons offer a minimally invasive option for complex surgical procedures. In the past, surgical options only included traditional surgery with a large incision or laparoscopy, which uses small incisions but is typically limited to simple procedures.

Committed to bringing advanced treatments using the latest technology to patients in the region, Capital Health offers this option to patients requiring certain gynecological and urologic procedures.

The da Vinci Surgical System provides surgeons with superior 3D visualization, enhanced dexterity, precision and control.

This minimally invasive approach offers several potential benefits over conventional open surgery.

• Significantly less pain
• Less blood loss
• Fewer transfusions
• Less risk of infection
• Less scarring
• Shorter hospital stay
• Faster recovery time and return to normal activities
• And, in many cases, better clinical outcomes

Some of the procedures the da Vinci® System is being used for at Capital Health include:

Urological procedures

• Prostatectomy - Used in the treatment of prostate cancer, a prostatectomy is the removal of the prostate, as well as some tissue surrounding it. Recent studies suggest that da Vinci Prostatectomy may offer improved cancer control and a lower incidence of impotence and urinary incontinence after surgery as compared with open surgery.
• Nephrectomy - Used for the treatment of kidney cancer, a nephrectomy (partial, simple or radical) can be used to remove cancer from within the kidney. A da Vinci nephrectomy avoids the need for a large incision to access the kidney and in select patients enables the kidney to be preserved while removing just the tumor.
• Pyeloplasty - Used to correct urinary obstruction, a pyeloplasty removes the blockage in the urinary system. During surgery, your surgeon will reattach the healthy part of the kidney to the healthy part of the ureter - the tube that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder.

Gynecological procedures

• Hysterectomy - Traditionally, many conditions affecting the uterus are treated with hysterectomy, which is the surgical removal of the uterus. Hysterectomy may offer a life-saving treatment for serious conditions such as cancer or uncontrollable bleeding. In most cases, however, hysterectomy is an elective procedure performed to relieve chronic pain, bleeding or other disabling conditions. These may be caused by fibroids (non-cancerous tumors); endometriosis (non-cancerous growth of the uterine lining) or prolapse (falling or slipping of the uterus).
• Bilateral Salpingo-Oophorectomy - Bilateral Salpingo-Oophorectomy is surgery to remove both ovaries and both fallopian tubes. It is used in the treatment of gynecological cancers such as ovarian and fallopian cancer and can also can be used as a treatment for infections resulting from pelvic inflammatory disease and endometreosis.
• Myomectomy - A myomectomy is the surgical removal of uterine fibroids and is an alternative to a hysterectomy designed to preserve the uterus.
• Tubal reanastomosis (Tubal Reversal for Fertility) - Tubal reversal reopens the fallopian tube after a tubal ligation procedure.