Summer 2003 - Arkansas Children's Hospital

HOSPITAL PROGRAMS
Hospital
Unveils New Robotic
Surgery Technology
Dr. Rick Jackson looks through robotic surgery equipment,
which gives him a 3-D image of the internal surgery area
during a procedure.
What has three-dimensional images on a television screen,
“joy sticks” that fit your fingers and mimic every movement of
your hands, and “goggles” that allow you to magnify the “playing
field?” No, it’s not the latest video game; it’s a highly
advanced robotic surgery system recently installed at Arkansas
Children’s Hospital.
The equipment, known as the da Vinci Surgical System,
arrived at ACH in early April and, as of June 30, has already
been used for 12 procedures at the hospital. ACH is only the
second independent pediatric hospital to install this equipment.
Samuel D. Smith, M.D., Chief of Staff and of Pediatric
Surgery at ACH, and professor in the Department of Surgery in
the UAMS College of Medicine, is responsible for recruiting the
new technology for the hospital. He was also instrumental in
helping to secure a $250,000 lead gift for the system. Dr. Smith
discovered the da Vinci Surgical System in 2000 when it was
unveiled in California. Three years later, the effort to bring the
da Vinci Surgical System to Arkansas is a success.
“This is the first example of using the power of computers
to make surgery more precise and safer,” says Smith. “The da
Vinci gives us the ability to see inside the patient in 3-D with
eight times the normal details. This technology also gives us
better control of the instruments and dexterity we have not
had in the past.”
Benefits to patients may include:
• Less invasive surgery
• Less blood loss and need for transfusions
• Less anesthesia
• Less post-operative pain and discomfort
• Less risk of infection
• Shorter hospital stay
• Faster recovery
• Less scarring
The system allows ACH surgeons to see
and operate in areas of a young patient’s
body that are not easily accessed or even
accessed at all through conventional surgery. With the da
Vinci System, surgeons sit at a computer console a few
feet away from the operating table. They then peer into a
3-D TV screen, which projects a magnified view of the
operative field, and use controls to manipulate miniature
robotic “hands” that are inside the child. Surgeons can
perform all of their
usual procedures with
the “hands,” but they
can adjust the scale so
that, for instance, a
human motion of one
inch makes the instruments
move only onetenth
of an inch.
The da Vinci
Surgical System was
initially designed by a
general surgeon for use
by heart surgeons. Its
introduction into pediatric
settings will likely
lead to more procedures
taking place and could
lead to new operations
which currently do not
take place at ACH.
The surgeon makes regular
surgical motions with these
hand controls that are then
translated electronically to the
instruments in the patient.The
control console filters out any
extraneous motion or tremor
by the surgeon and can adjust
the scale of the movement.
Pictured is one of the surgical
instruments used inside the
patient.The instruments have
“wrists” built into them that allow
better dexterity deep inside a
patient, making complex suturing
and cutting possible. Even smaller
instruments are currently being
developed so that patients of any
age will soon be candidates for
this new technology.
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