St. Joseph's 2nd Tucson hospital to get most advanced da Vinci surgical robot

TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) - Carondelet St. Joseph's Hospital in Tucson has unveiled its new da Vinci Xi surgical robot that helps doctors perform complex, minimally invasive surgery.

The da Vinci Xi surgical robot is expected to make many complex surgeries easier for surgeons to perform and be much easier on the patients.

The hospital invited visitors and employees to try the simulator on Wednesday, April 20.

St. Joseph's Chief of Urology Dr. Anthony Chavez said the newest da Vinci robot has several enhancements.

He sat at the simulator's control panel, put his fingers into the controls and remotely moved the robot's "arms" and "hands" inside a simulated body.

"So the robot introduced wrists where you, in a way, are almost virtually inside the patient and able to do fine motor movements. The newer robot has enhanced that with more tools," Chavez said.

The surgeon sees everything on a screen in high definition, with a 3D view and with movable cameras.

"Previous models you were limited to one view. Wherever you put the robotic camera in the patient's body, that was your angle. This one allow you to work from all different parts of the body," Chavez said.

Chavez also works with the older model of the da Vinci surgical robot.

As with other robotic surgery, the newest generation machine also is minimally invasive, and also requires only small incisions, but it's a game changer as Chavez demonstrated on the simulator.

"These instruments are for tying sutures, for grasping small objects. You can switch for a scissors. You can switch to heat, staplers vessel sealers, all kinds of different instruments to provide the best possible surgical outcome," Chavez said.

Another plus is that the surgeon can move the robotic hands around inside the body, from the pelvis to the chest, if necessary.

The older model is less versatile, making it more difficult for the surgeon and the patient if the surgeon has to move to another part of the body.

"It might require unhooking the robot from the patient and maybe even repositioning the patient at a different angle, adding time, adding cost and adding patient discomfort, in a way. You're having to make more parts, more incisions to do that," Chavez said.

The new da Vinci eliminates all of that.

The patient spends less time on the operating table and is headed home a lot quicker.

"The benefits to robotic surgery, particularly this newer model, is less post-operative pain. Less bleeding has been well-demonstrated, particularly in my field of urology and prostate surgery. Shorter hospital stay. And by saying shorter hospital stay what you are saying is when you're ready to go home, you're pain is improved. You're tolerating a diet. You're walking," Chavez said.

St. Joseph's Hospital says the new robot can be used on the prostate, lungs, kidneys, intestines, stomach, gall bladder, uterus, ovaries and more.

Surgeons at St. Joseph's Hospital will begin using the da Vinci Xi next week.

With the machine at St. Joseph's, it means there now is one on Tucson's east side.

Northwest Medical Center also has a da Vinci Xi system.