Robotic Surgical Methods Enhance Prostate Surgery Success

A rare occurrence of failure of the robotic surgical system at the Asian Heart Institute in Mumbai resulted in halting the prostate surgery proceedings. Dr. David Samadi, Vice Chairman of the Department of Urology at the Mount Sinai Medical Center, pointed out that all through these years of using the da Vinci Robotic Surgical system, he has never faced such a situation.

He added that the robotic system was reliable and that the usage of the robot only enhances the surgical procedures and does not replace the physician.

Prostatectomy surgeries end up with more successful outcomes when aided by the da Vinci system. Dr. Samadi has come up with his own SMART (SMART (Samadi Modified Advanced Robotic Technique) Surgery system, which exploits the robot’s ability to precisely navigate through the cancerous prostate and leave out the healthy tissue untouched. He has performed more than 3,600 robotic prostatectomies so far, each of which resulted in success. Dr. Samadi is a fellowship trained surgeon in performing open, laparoscopic and robotic surgery. He explained that success in robotic surgery comes from the three-in-one approach, meaning three surgeons in one head. He was of the opinion that another important factor in the success of robotic surgeries was in capturing the anatomy through clear visuals and real-time feedback. The robots merely assist the surgeon in performing surgery with precision and not take over his role. He concluded that for the success of robotic prostatectomy it is important to have a skilled surgeon with a strong surgical base who can use his skill to manoeuvre the robot with dexterity.