Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin has become the only pediatric hospital in Wisconsin to perform a robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery.
The first patient treated at Children’s Hospital with robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery was a 15-year-old girl from Denmark with an ureteropelvic junction obstruction or a blockage of urine flow from her kidney.
“Robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery demonstrates our commitment to providing the best and safest care for our patients,” said Dr. Travis Groth, program director of Robotic Surgery at Children’s Hospital.
Children’s Hospital pediatric urology surgeons use robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery to treat a variety of conditions previously treated only with open surgery. Robot-assisted surgery allows surgeons to perform complex procedures through tiny incisions.
Surgeons are able to operate with three interactive robotic arms while sitting at a console. The system interprets the surgeon’s hand movements to the robotic instruments, which can move in a tiny surgical area with more precision and greater range of motion than the human wrist. One of the robot’s arms holds a camera that is lowered through a small incision to allow the surgeon to see inside the body in high definition and 3-D view while operating. The system provides up to 10 times magnification, helping the surgeon see small structures even more clearly than in open surgery.
The advantages of robot-assisted surgery for the patient may include less pain, less blood loss, less scarring, shorter hospital stays and shorter recovery time.
“The minimally invasive approach allows us to provide the newest technology at a pediatric facility where the surgeons, nurses and anesthesiologist are all specially trained to treat children,” Groth added.
