Robot-assisted gallbladder surgery debuts at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center
A surgical team at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center performed a robot-assisted laparoscopic technique, which allows surgeons to perform the surgical procedures through very small incisions. The Columbia surgeons are the lead investigators evaluating the da Vinci Surgical System, a device approved by the FDA for a number of clinical trials.
Using robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery for gallbladder removal, this technique offers surgeons increased flexibility, safety, precision, and ease, which translates, for patients, into reduced trauma, faster recovery time, less postoperative pain and discomfort, shorter hospital stays, and less anesthesia and scarring. The surgery team actually performed the procedure by manipulating the robot's movements from a viewing console located several feet from the patient.
