Dr. Myron Luthringer is one of an increasing number of surgeons who can sit six feet away from the operating table while performing surgery on his patients.

The feat is made possible by a robotic “assistant” called the da Vinci Surgical System, which consists of four robotic arms and a 3D camera. The surgeon sits at a console and operates the robotic arms using the thumb and forefinger on each hand and by pressing a pedal with his feet. By pinching his fingers together and rotating his wrists, he can control the precise movements of the surgical instruments attached to the robotic arms.

On Wednesday, the general public and area physicians were invited to Turning Stone Resort and Casino to view and test out the system.

Luthringer said there are benefits for the surgeon and patient with the system.

“For the surgeon, it allows a three-dimensional view so you have depth perception so you can see the organs better,” he said. “The instruments are ‘wristed’ where the instruments bend. So instead of using straight instruments to do the surgery, you can actually mimic exactly what your hands would do if were in the abdomen.”

He said the less invasive nature of the surgery has numerous benefits for the patient.

“For the patient, it allows for less pain afterwards, less bleeding and a quicker recovery back to normal,” he said. “It has allowed a lot of the surgeries that were very complicated and were previously done in an open fashion with a large six or eight inch incision to be done minimally invasively.”

Luthringer is chief of gynecological robotic and minimally invasive surgery at Community General Hospital in Syracuse and uses the system routinely in his practice.

“Still in the United States, 50 percent of hysterectomies are done through a large open incision,” he said. “In my practice, 99 percent are done with the robot.”

Half his patients return home the same day of the surgery and the other half go home the next morning.

“Recuperation is a week to two weeks versus the traditional six to eight weeks,” he said.

The technology was developed in 2000 and Luthringer has used it in gynecological procedures such as hysterectomies for removing the uterus and myomectomies for removing fibroid tumors.

He said the system was first used by surgeons in the cardiology and urology fields.

The list of uses for the system continues to expand into colorectal surgery and surgeries in the ears, nose and throat field, otolaryngology. Luthringer can see it being applied to orthopedic surgery as well.

According to Intuitive Surgical, the makers of the system, as of December 2009, Community General Hospital in Syracuse had one of 1,028 systems in use in the United States.

Luthringer acknowledges that the cost of the system, $1.7 million, is slowing its expansion to more hospitals around country.

By MATT POWERS
Dispatch Staff Writer

source: http://www.oneidadispatch.com/articles/2010/11/04/news/doc4cd362c0a5bdd543925045.txt?viewmode=fullstory