Monmouth Medical Center is Bringing the Most Advanced Minimally Invasive Surgery to the Region
Dmitry Oleynikov, MD, FACS, Chair of Surgery, Monmouth Medical Center, an RWJBarnabas Health facility
Throughout the hospital’s history, Monmouth Medical Center’s highly skilled surgeons have quickly adopted the latest surgical innovations and this pioneering spirit has set the stage for bringing the most advanced minimally invasive procedures to the region for our patients. The Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery at Monmouth Medical Center has introduced the region’s most advanced, state-of-the-art robotic and laparoscopic surgical procedures to treat a wide variety of medical conditions ranging from gallbladder surgery to cancer surgeries and heart bypasses.
Minimally invasive surgery (called laparoscopic surgery) is done through small incisions using specialized techniques, miniature cameras, fiber-optic lights and high-definition monitors. Minimally invasive surgical procedures include advanced laparoscopic procedures that are performed through either a single port or through a single incision and robotic surgery and are performed both on an inpatient (stay in the hospital) and outpatient (go home the same day) basis.
There are number of benefits for patients that qualify for minimally invasive surgery procedures including:
- Less pain
- Less scaring
- Less blood loss
- Shorter hospital stay
- Quicker return to normal activities
Innovative Robotic Surgery
Monmouth Medical Center (MMC) created the region’s first robotic surgery program – and it remains one of the busiest robotic surgery programs in the state. The hospital’s surgeons use the latest in robotic surgery technology to offer patients better outcomes than conventional surgery.
MMC took minimally invasive surgery to new levels of precision and control when it became the region’s first hospital to implement robotic surgery with the da Vinci S Surgical System. The da Vinci S Surgical System is the most advanced of the robotic platforms and is reshaping surgery, as surgeons seek more advanced ways to perform complex procedures with at least amount of risk and recovery time for patients.
The system combines computer and robotic technologies with the skills of the surgeon to create a new category of surgical treatment – making it possible to perform more technically demanding surgeries like a prostatectomy, using a minimally invasive approach. Robotic surgery provides surgeons with all the clinical and technical capabilities of complex open surgery while enabling them to operate through tiny incisions with greater precision, superior visualization, enhanced dexterity and ergonomic comfort for a more optional performance of minimally invasive surgery than previously possible.
The Single Port System
Recently MMC became the second hospital in New Jersey, and only one in the RWJBarnbas Health system, to introduce a new robotic-assisted surgery device called da Vinci SP (Single Port) that relies on a single “port”, a metal cylinder through which surgeons introduced instruments into the body. Instead of using multiple ports, which require multiple incisions, a surgeon can now make one or two incisions. For example, typically a robotic prostate cancer surgery involves five or six ports. With fewer incisions, patients have a better cosmetic result and experience less pain and have a lower risk of infection.
Robotic-assisted devices help surgeons perform procedures with more precision. With the da Vinci SP system, the surgeon operates with the help of a three-dimensional, high-definition view of the surgical area and controls the surgical instruments through a console, which translates the surgeons hand movements in real time. MMC surgeons have used the da Vinci SP system in about more than 47 procedures so far, including prostate cancer surgeries, kidney tumor removal and kidney reconstruction. The device is also approved for certain ear, nose and throat (ENT) procedures and it is anticipated that the technology will be approved for more types of surgery in the future.
With the single-port technique, patients can go home immediately after surgery or in the early postoperative period, eliminating the need for an overnight stay. Traditionally, open surgery required a stay in the hospital for five to seven days. Multi-port robotic procedures require a one to two day stay.
The ideal candidates for the new single-port robotic procedure are patients with Stage I or II prostate or kidney cancers, which have not spread to other organs.
Also eligible are patients who need pyeloplasty, a reconstructive procedure for kidney blockages.
In some cases, patients with more advanced cancer of the prostate or kidneys may also be good candidates for single-port robotic surgery.
To learn more about robotic surgery at Monmouth Medical Center call 888-724-7123 or visit .