da Vinci surgical system
Robotic assisted surgery, a type of minimally invasive surgery,
uses robotic equipment which initiates surgical movements. The
London Clinic uses a state of the art surgical system called the da
Vinci® Surgical System. The system does not replace surgeons but
rather enhances their abilities to perform delicate procedures with
proven benefits to the patients.
During a robotic surgical procedure, the surgeon sits
comfortably at the console of the surgical system a few feet away
from the patient. The physician looks through the vision system —
like a pair of binoculars — and gets a 3 Dimensional (3 D) and high
definition view inside the patient's body. The system’s video
monitoring system provides a 3D view of the surgery with
magnification ten to fifteen times that of the naked eye, allowing
the surgeon the ability to see the operating field more
clearly.
The surgeon, while watching through the console/video monitoring
system, moves the handles on the console in the directions he or
she wants to move the surgical instruments. The handles make it
easier for the surgeon to make precise movements and operate for
long periods of time without getting tired. The robotic system
translates and transmits these precise hand and wrist movements to
pencil sized instruments that have been inserted into the patient
through small access incisions. At the tips of the instruments are
tiny microsurgical instruments that can articulate and move to the
same degrees as the surgeon’s wrists and fingers. At the operating
table the patient is surrounded by surgical assistants and nurses
whose assistance is critical to the procedure.
This combination of increased view and tireless dexterity is
helping surgeons overcome some of the limitations of other types of
less invasive surgery. It's also allowing them to finally use
minimally invasive surgery for more complex operations.
Press release: The London Clinic upgrades
state-of-the-art robot