Patients at Garden Park Medical Center who undergo Single-Site gallbladder surgery are experiencing a quicker recovery time thanks to da Vinci® robot. This month, Garden Park Medical Center reached a major milestone by celebrating its 100th da Vinci®Single-Sitesurgery given its introduction only eleven months earlier.
"Since the first procedure in July 2012, we have found that the da Vinci® Single-Site robot gives us a better assessment on the inside of the body than with traditional open surgery and more precise control of the surgical instruments, which lowers the risk of damage to surrounding organs” says Paul Mace M.D., General Surgeon at Garden Park Medical Center.
The Single-Site procedure is nothing like traditional open surgery where a patient undergoes the long, post-operative recovery process — and nearly 4-inch surgical scar. “A one-inch single incision is made within the crater of the navel ensuring less blood is lost, there’s minimal scarring and the patient experiences a faster recovery time with minimal pain. Under ideal conditions, single-site robotic gallbladder surgery can be completed in well less than a half-hour. We’ve only been doing this (robotic) surgery for eleven months and people are already coming to our offices asking for it,” said Mace.
With less pain after surgery this can sometimes reduce or eliminate the need for pain medication, allowing the patient to return home sooner. “We are always looking for ways to better the patient experience and by providing minimally invasive procedures such as da Vinci®Single-Site surgery this ensures quicker recover times and allows the patient to bounce back to a normal lifestyle faster than traditional laparoscopic cholecystectomy (removal of the gallbladder) methods”, said Brenda Waltz, Garden Park Medical Center Chief Executive Officer.
“Dr. Mace is the only surgeon between Pascagoula, New Orleans and south of Hattiesburg to perform the Single-Site da Vinci robotic surgery. We are seeing patients travel as far from South Alabama to have the Single-Site performed”, says Waltz.
The hospital offers various types of robotic-assisted surgeries. In addition to gallbladder removal, surgeons also perform robotic-assisted surgery in hysterectomies and offer a wide range of minimally invasive conventional laparoscopic surgeries. Dr. Mace has started to use the da Vinci system at Garden Park Medical Center to treat benign and malignant tumors of the colon and rectum, diverticular disease as well as inflammatory bowel disease and anticipates transitioning to Single-Site colon surgery within the next 12-18 months once robotic Single-Site colon surgery technology is available.
To learn more about Garden Park Medical Center’s Single-Site surgeries with the minimally invasive da Vinci®robot or to schedule an interview with Paul Mace, M.D., F.A.C.S, please contact Angela Juzang, Director of Marketing and Business Development (228) 575-7110