Thursday, 28 October 2004 Surgeons expand use of robot
By Ruth Campbell Two Midland physicians have performed prostate surgery with the da Vinci surgical robot at Alliance Hospital. Ronnie Gillihan, 57, underwent a prostatectomy July 29, following a da Vinci-assisted heart operation April 2. The Midland resident was on hand with his wife, Nelda, for a Wednesday news conference at the hospital to announce the new use for the robot system. "I feel great. No problems," Gillihan said, adding that he feels the recovery time is much shorter using the robotic system. Dr. Nick Shroff and Dr. Naveen Kella, of Midland Urology, did Gillihan's prostate operation. Kella said five patients have undergone robotic prostatectomies. Gillihan said he was going to have prostate surgery first and Dr. Suresh Gadasalli had his heart checked out. Gadasalli found a heart problem, so he sent Gillihan to Dr. Sudir Srivastava. After heart surgery, Gillihan said, robotic prostate surgery was discussed. "I'd taken the PSA blood test and it was high," Gillihan said. For two years, physicians have been using the da Vinci robot for heart surgery. Alliance Hospital opened in June 2003, but physicians used Odessa Regional for some operations, Sherry Salter, director of volunteer services for Alliance said. Kella, who is Shroff's son-in-law, has been involved in about 80 robot-assisted prostate surgeries. He first investigated the robotic prostate procedure to try and achieve better patient outcomes. Kella said he and Shroff knew Alliance had a da Vinci system and sought an agreement "where we could do some urology here." Kella said it takes five or six hours to do robotic prostate surgery, but as surgeons continue to use the robotic method, that should come down to two or three hours. The traditional laparoscopic method takes five to six hours, Kella said. With a handful of surgeons, it takes two to three hours.
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