Robots and the Human Touch

Penn Leads the Way in New Surgical Technology

Robotic-assisted surgery is a technique in which surgeons operate on patients by manipulating ultra sensitive instruments via remote controls. The highly effective procedure is designed to be minimally invasive. Instruments are inserted through a tiny “keyhole” incision, along with a camera that provides high quality, three-dimensional images to a viewing console monitored by a surgeon. The surgeon maneuvers the robotic “arms” using hand and foot controls.

Enhanced Control for Better Results
The advantages of robotic-assisted surgery include a tremendous enhancement in surgeons' control of the instruments and the ability to perform more intricate procedures. The robotic arms even filter minute tremors of the human hand to provide a greater degree of steadiness. For patients, the results of robotic-assisted surgery include:

• shorter hospital stays
• faster recoveries
• lower risk of infection
• less pain and scarring

Because of its many benefits, robotic-assisted surgery has gained increased popularity among the medical community in recent years. But technology is only as good as the hands that control it. And just as high performance race cars are meant to be driven by professional drivers, surgery-assisting robotic technology is meant to be operated by skilled and experienced surgeons.

While more and more hospitals are adopting robotic-assisted surgical technology, the Penn Robotic-Assisted Surgery program is already home to four da Vinci® Robotic Surgical Systems and staffed by surgeons who far exceed the recommended level of experience required for its use. And with the addition of a fifth system, we have one of the largest robotic-assisted surgical programs in the country.

Technology in the Hands of Experts
Our expertise in robotic-assisted surgery crosses a variety of disciplines and has consistently yielded dramatically improved results. Having performed more than 1,000 robotic-assisted prostatectomies, our surgeons rank among the most experienced in the country and are considered experts at teaching the procedure.

Our robotic prostate, heart valve and coronary bypass procedures are widely regarded as the state-of-the-art treatment and our surgeons have used this technology to perform less invasive bariatric surgery for patients who may be at a higher risk. Surgeries from kidney reconstruction to gynecological procedures to coronary artery bypass surgery are being performed more effecively than ever.

We were the first medical center in the world with an approved study to perform transoral robotic surgery, a technique developed at Penn that allows surgeons to access difficult to reach areas of the throat, improving both cosmetic and functional results among patients suffering from cancer of the tongue, tonsil and throat.

As the medical community embraces robotic-assisted surgery, our researchers, nurses, and surgeons remain at the forefront of this field by relentlessly advancing the application of this technology as well as educating the next generation of surgeons who will use it. The result is that Penn is the first place surgeons turn to learn the technology of tomorrow and the first place you should turn for answers.

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