Page 31 - Tropic Magazine Issue 10

Industry
Medical

The team at Cairns Private Hospital with the new surgical robot

Great leap forward

The future of surgery has
arrived at Cairns Private
Hospital.

Across the great divide of art and science, movements into smaller, more precise
Leonardo da Vinci’s legacy lives on in movements of tiny instruments inside the
everything from painting and patient’s body. The Xi System’s immersive
engineering to architecture and anatomy. 3D-HD vision system provides surgeons a
So it is entirely fitting that one of the highly magnified view, virtually
medical world’s most advanced surgical extending their eyes and hands into the
robots - now available for the first time in patient. Surgeons using the robotic
Cairns - is named after him. system can perform complex procedures
Cairns Private Hospital is now home to using keyhole surgery, needing incisions
the da Vinci Xi Surgical Robot System, of less than 1cm compared to an incision
allowing minimally invasive surgical of up to 25cm for a traditional radical Expanded services
procedures to be conducted in a range of prostatectomy. In the immediate term, the da Vinci Xi
areas such as urology, gynaecology, ENT, Surgical System is key to expanding
colorectal and general surgery. The urological services in Cairns. Urologist Dr
robotic system negates the need for local Stefan Antoniou, who works at both
patients to travel to Brisbane where Cairns Private Hospital and Cairns
similar procedures are performed. The robotic system negates Hospital, said the technology would be
the need for local patients to beneficial to prostate cancer patients who
Benefits travel to Brisbane where currently need to travel great distances
The surgical robot is a great leap forward for treatment.
for patients, delivering procedures that similar procedures are “The da Vinci prostatectomy is an
result in less pain, shorter stays in performed. innovative technology that offers
hospital, and lower risk of infection. As Dr Stefan Antoniou extraordinary benefits to patients and has
just one example, patients who have revolutionised the treatment for prostate
undergone a radical prostatectomy using cancer,” Dr Antoniou said.
the da Vinci ® Surgical System can expect In the United States, over 80% of all “The da Vinci Surgical Robot System
to leave hospital in just 1-2 days and radical prostatectomies are currently enables urologists to operate in the
return to normal daily activities within performed using this technology. While difficult to get to lower pelvis through
six weeks. Cairns urologists have been performing very small incisions with unmatched
robotic surgery for prostate cancer for precision in a 3D environment. It is very
Revolutionary many years in Brisbane, the introduction effective and the least invasive surgical
As with all da Vinci Surgical Systems, the of a local service in Cairns means more approach to prostate cancer treatment.”
surgeon is 100% in control of the specialists in areas like gynaecology and
robotic-assisted da Vinci System. The colorectal surgery will start to use the
robot “translates” the surgeon’s hand robot too. MORE: cairnsprivate.com.au