01/21/2019

Minimally Invasive Surgery: WDH Leads Seacoast in Robotic Surgery

The most innovative and most precise robotic surgical system is now at our surgeons’ skilled fingertips. Wentworth-Douglass Hospital recently added a second da Vinci robot - Intuitive Surgical’s da Vinci Xi Surgical System - making it the largest, most experienced robotic surgery program on the Seacoast.

The addition of the da Vinci Xi robot gives our surgeons even great control and clarity. Its wristed instrumentation rotates far beyond a surgeon’s natural range of motion and eliminates tremors. The highly-magnified HD camera provides a crystal clear 3D view of the surgical site. Plus, integrated table motion allows patients to be moved and rotated into an optimal position during surgery.

“The hospital’s investment in the latest robotic technology means that complex surgeries that once would have required an open incision now are performed minimally invasively,” says Dr. David Coppola, Wentworth Health Partners general surgeon with Seacoast General Surgery.

For patients, the benefits include small to no scars, a quicker recovery, decreased pain, fewer complications, less chance for infection, shorter time in the OR and under anesthesia, shorter hospital stays, less reliance on narcotic pain medications, and better overall satisfaction.

Sixteen Wentworth-Douglass surgeons are trained to performed robotic-assisted surgery, including some of the most experienced robotic surgeons in the country. Dr. Patricia Auty and Dr. Joseph Rodriguez, Wentworth Health Partners general surgeons with Seacoast General Surgery, have both recently surpassed 1,000 robot-assisted cases. Given the breadth of their experience and expertise, they are considered “Robotic Epicenters” by Intuitive Surgical and are training the next generation of robotic surgeons.

Today, robotic-assisted surgeries at WDH include urology, gynecologic, general/abdominal surgeries, and now bariatric weight loss surgery. Wentworth-Douglass’s bariatric surgeons use the new da Vinci Xi robot to perform both Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass and Sleeve Gastrectomy.

“We use the most advanced surgical technology in the world for our patients with morbid obesity. We perform safe and very precise surgeries with great 3D visualization and amazing control, which helps them to achieve a speedy recovery with minimal pain medication use,” says Dr. Dmytro Havaleshko, medical director of the Center for Weight Management and Bariatric Surgery. “Using new da Vinci Xi robotic system allows us to deliver all the benefits of minimally invasive surgery to our patients.”

Learn more about the robot-assisted surgery and minimally invasive surgery options offered at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, or call (603) 609-6213.