Parkridge Medical Center, who officials describe as the pioneering hospital for robotic surgery in Chattanooga and Tennessee, premiered the da Vinci Xi Surgical System Wednesday.
This state-of-the-art technological system allows surgeons to perform minimally-invasive approaches to surgical procedures. For the patient, this can mean reduced pain, less blood loss and scarring, and a lower infection and complication risk.
The new system at Parkridge Medical Center is an addition to Parkridge Health System’s robotic surgery capabilities. Two da Vinci Si surgical systems also provide services at Parkridge East Hospital.
“Parkridge Health System pioneered robotic-assisted surgery in the Chattanooga area in 2002,” Darrell Moore, president and CEO of Parkridge Health System said. “Parkridge Medical Center was the first hospital in Chattanooga, the second in the state and one of only 100 facilities in the nation to offer this revolutionary service at the time. Today, we’re proud to offer our skilled surgeons even more capabilities using this latest technology that can help reduce possible surgery complications in patients and get them back to their fullest lives as soon as possible.”
“The system is more comparable to the human wrist and hand and adds greater control than traditional laparoscopic surgery can provide,” said Parkridge Health System Director of Surgical Services Jared Bement. “This can help improve dexterity and enable surgeons to do their jobs in a more controlled environment.”
“The skill is one hundred percent the surgeon’s own,” Dir. Bement said. “The Xi simply enhances that skill by reducing the size of the incision and allowing for enhanced visual acuity using highly-detailed three-dimensional images.”
Donald Chamberlain, M.D., the surgeon scheduled to perform the first procedure using the new system at Parkridge Medical Center, said, “This system is another tool of a surgeon that can complement the procedure and reduce the incision to a smaller size the human hand cannot physically match.”
Additional appointments with several surgeons are being made by patients looking to take advantage of the potential benefits the da Vinci Xi can provide both patient and surgeon, officials said.
“These are very exciting times in medicine from a clinical perspective,” Dir. Bement said. “This surgical system is a perfect combination of technology, professional surgical skill and best practices for patient outcomes.”