the real benefit of the da vinci surgical system
that it brings to UConn is 
that we offer a new service to our
community
the nice thing about the da vinci robot
the tips of the laparoscopic instruments can
move
with greater degrees of freedom than my
own hands it is still the surgeon
performing the surgery the robot is
basically a tool to transmit my exact
motions with my hands
inside the body to the tips of those
laparoscopic instruments
robotic surgery is used primarily now for gynecology
and hysterectomies
we also use it for infertility surgeries
and for other cancer surgeries such as
prostate cancer we're hoping this year to
expand into the removal of thyroid tumors and head
neck cancers and other general surgical
procedures
one of the
best parts of the robotic system is that
there's a lot more precision in our
surgical technique because the anatomy is
magnified so when we're
actually at the console we're looking into
your body in 3D imaging
robotic surgery offers a much faster
recovery than traditional surgery
traditionally we did many of our cancer
surgeries through a big incision about
this big and patients would stay three to five
days in the hospital but now with robotic
surgery they end up with 4 or 5 incision that are this big
and many patients go home the next day or
the same day
the da vinci robot has really done so
much for our patients
they've been
thrilled that they can have a
minimally invasive procedure
and it's been rewarding to me as a
physician and a surgeon to see these
success rates
