Robotic Surgery the Wave of the Future at Manchester Memorial Hospital

It's no longer just something out of a science fiction movie - and it's no longer lightyears away either. 

Patients at now have the option to opt for a minimally invasive robotic surgery for a number of surgical procedures. Doctors and staff at the hospital praised the machine recently, known as the da Vinci Surgical System, for reducing patients hospital stay, resulting in less pain and scarring after a surgery, a decreased risk of infection and leading to a faster recovery and return to normal activities. 

"It's less pain, less blood loss and patients are back to their daily lives much quicker," said Andrea Kotsch, a nurse at Manchester Memorial Hospital who works with the team of doctors, nurses and technicians trained to use the da Vinci. 

Surgery with the da Vinci is performed through two or three small incisions of about a centimeter or two known as "portholes." The machine is then able to enhance the internal images of a patient through an "immersive view," which includes 3D imagery and magnification of up to 10 times actual size. The machine is currently used to perform gynecology, urology, colorectal and some forms of cancer surgery.  

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"The nice thing about the da Vinci is it's intuitive," said Lon Manfredi, a doctor of obstetrics and gynecology for the Eastern Connecticut Health Network. "You have a better range of motion and your vision and precision is enhanced." 

Joe Pauley, a sales representative for Intuitive Surgical, the company that sold and services the machine to ECHN, said that there are about 2,000 da Vinci models in hospitals across the country. Pauley said it is not out of the ordinary for a community hospital such as Manchester Memorial to offer surgeries on the machine, but that "you don't see a lot of them" in similar sized hospitals. 

The da Vinci has been at Manchester Memorial Hospital for about four years. Staff said the machine cost about $1.5 million to $1.7 million, but that its popularity and requests for usages have been steadily growing. 

ECHN is so proud of the machine that it trotted it out for public use and demonstration (without the actual patients or surgical procedures) during a recent open house at the hospital Thursday, May 17. 

"Because I did not have a big incision I did not have the skin pull and stretch that I experienced with my other abdominal surgeries," said a patient whose name the hospital would not disclose about the machine. 

For more information about the da Vinci and the surgical procedures currently preformed on it, click here.