Patients at Saint Joseph Mount Sterling, Saint Joseph London and Flaget Memorial Hospital now have access to surgical technologies that offer faster recoveries with fewer complications.
”We are so excited to offer robotic-assisted surgery to our patients,” said Sanjiv Mehta, MD, MHA, orthopedic surgeon at Flaget Memorial Hospital. “I’ve done about 350 knee replacements at my previous job using a surgical robot, and I am firmly convinced that it makes me a better surgeon and provides a better outcome for patients.”
Three different robots are coming to the hospitals this winter. Flaget Memorial Hospital now has ROSA, or Robotic Surgical Assistant by Zimmer Biomet, a tool to help with orthopedic surgeries. Saint Joseph Mount Sterling will get a Mako SmartRobotics system to also help with orthopedic surgeries, and Saint Joseph London will have a da Vinci Xi robot for abdominal surgeries.
“The Mako system is a great asset for our patients,” said James Rollins, MD, orthopedic surgeon at Saint Joseph Mount Sterling. “I think it will really make a difference with recovery time.”
Different robotic surgery systems provide different benefits during procedures, but your surgeons are always in charge — no robots are performing the surgery on their own.
“Using the da Vinci Xi is like having two extra hands in the operating room,” said Nicholas Capal, DO, general surgeon at Saint Joseph London. “I guide the instruments via a console while looking through an advanced 3D vision system that gives me a better view of the anatomy.”
The ROSA and Mako systems work differently. The machines are tools the surgeon uses to better provide precision outcomes.
“Robotic surgery helps us customize the exact needs for the patient’s anatomy,” Dr. Mehta said. “With a surgical robot, you can feed information about minute anatomical differences between patients into the robot, and the robot will help you navigate even complex structures.”
Robotic-assisted procedures have many benefits, such as:
“Advances in technology, including AI, are continuing to improve the robots and hopefully will continue to make outcomes even better for patients,” Dr. Rollins said.
The da Vinci Xi is a robotic surgery system that uses several small incisions to view and access organs during minimally invasive surgical procedures, including abdominal and hiatal hernia repair, appendectomy, and gallbladder surgery.
“We will be using the robot for all types of abdominal and gastrointestinal procedures, except for bariatric surgery,” Dr. Capal said. “Patients can expect much less postoperative pain than traditional open surgeries, reducing the need for opioid pain medications, even after more involved hernia surgeries.”
The ROSA and Mako robots will be used for orthopedic procedures, including partial and total knee replacements, total hip replacements, and total shoulder replacements.
“We will be starting with both types of knee replacement surgeries,” Dr. Mehta said. “In the future, we plan to offer hip and shoulders. I am very proud that we can actually bring this leading-edge technology here.”
All surgeons operating the robots have received extensive training on the specific technology. Nurses and operating room staff have also been trained.
“Our goal is to bring as many types of procedures as possible to our community, so our patients with complicated medical concerns don’t feel like they have to travel out of town for surgery,” Dr. Capal said.
Saint Joseph Berea has offered nuclear medicine for decades, but the hospital recently upgraded its equipment. Thanks to a $350,000 federal grant, the hospital now has a leading-edge GE NM 830 nuclear medicine camera.
During nuclear medicine procedures, small amounts of radioactive materials (known as tracers) are injected, ingested or inhaled into the patient’s body. The tracers collect in specific areas, and a nuclear imaging camera allows cardiologists, oncologists and radiologists to capture high-quality, real-time changes in target tissues, organ systems or bones. As a result, doctors can find disease, target treatment and monitor treatment progress for patients.
“The new camera allows us to acquire studies in half the time or do half-dose imaging, which reduces radiation exposure to our patients without sacrificing image quality,” said Rhonda Anglin McMaster, MBA, CNMT, RT(N), cardiovascular services and nuclear medicine manager at Saint Joseph Berea. “We want our patients to know that we now have unrivaled high-quality diagnostic imaging closer to home.”
The nuclear camera can aid in detection of many conditions, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, liver issues, gallstones and thyroid disease. It also can image and identify disease processes in the central nervous, endocrine (thyroid and parathyroid), gastrointestinal and pulmonary systems, as well as provide infection, tumor and skeletal imaging.
At CHI Saint Joseph Health, we offer robotic surgery across Kentucky that allows for advancements in minimally invasive surgical procedures. Learn more about robotic-assisted surgery.
Chris Clark wears two hats in his work for CHI Saint Joseph Medical Group in Lexington, splitting his time as an APRN at CHI Saint Joseph Medical Group – Primary Care and as an IT trainer in the ministry’s electronic medical records system, Epic.
Read More Additional information about Celebrating Our People – Meet Chris
Meet Jennifer Jones, practice manager with CHI Saint Joseph Medical Group in London and Saint Joseph London's 2024 Leader of the Year.
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A new Mako surgical robot at Saint Joseph Mount Sterling is accelerating recovery time for orthopedic patients. Carla Wilson says she noticed a difference in just a week after having robotic surgery on her left knee.
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