Robot set for surgery in capital
Meet the da Vinci Xi robot, something straight out of a sci-fi film.
The state-of-the-art surgical machine, the first of its kind in Wellington, will lend an arm or four to surgery undertaken at Wakefield Hospital.
Made by US-based company Intuitive, the model comes with a list price of $3.7 million and will fit in with the private hospital’s $100m plus revamp.
Acurity Health Group chief executive Jonathan Coleman said the robot was due to arrive next month and would be up and running by March.
‘‘It’s all remote guided through cameras and being operated externally by a surgeon at a console,’’ Coleman said.
‘‘It might look almost like operating through a game console – although it’s not obviously, because those are real tools in there.’’
There are three separate, but connected parts: first the patient cart, with four arms hovering over the operating table. The arms hold different surgical tools and can have a camera attached to provide a closer, 3D view of the surgical site.
A specially-trained surgeon sits at the console across the room and controls the arms: the system translates hand, wrist and finger movements into the movements of surgical instruments attached to the four arms.
A vision cart can show an HD display with a live feed of the procedure for others in the operating theatre.
‘‘Many New Zealand surgeons have had opportunities to try it overseas and are dying to get into it, especially urologists and some of the general surgeons,’’ Coleman said.
The robot is widely used in urology for procedures such as radical prostatectomies – a removal of the prostate due to prostate cancer.
It has applications across general surgery and overseas it’s used for gynaecological surgery, hysterectomies and uterine surgery.
Surgical staff at Wakefield will undergo intensive training from the manufacturers, surgeons who have used the machine before and simulations.
‘‘People are keen to come and try it out,’’ Coleman said. ‘‘We’ve got one guy in particular who’s going to be a big user of the robot – he’s coming back between Christmas and New Year to get access to
the simulator and start using it.
‘‘They won’t start using this robot until they’re absolutely certain of their ability to use it.’’
As with any surgery, there were always risks of complications but Coleman said there were no extra risks added by using the machine, and it would more likely reduce them.
The machine made smaller incisions, therefore, smaller wounds and a faster recovery time.
‘‘[And] because you’ve got this ability to get deeper and closer to the affected structures, in certain cancers where people might have once had to have a colostomy bag, now they might not have to.’’
Wakefield Hospital is the fifth hospital in New Zealand to purchase a da Vinci machine.
The other robots are in Auckland, Christchurch and Tauranga.