May 11--Dan Nelson got the chance Saturday to meet the robot that saved his life.
This past fall, Nelson, 77, a retired water treatment plant worker from Jamestown, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.
He had a choice of going under the knife the old-fashioned way or undergoing surgery with the use of the da Vinci Surgical Robotic System. It is a system in which the surgeon uses tiny, precise instruments inserted through small cuts in the body and manipulates them from a control console just a few feet from the patient.
"I wonder how the first guy felt," Nelson quipped after sitting down at the console to give it a little spin. "The doctor and the patient."
Saturday, dozens of prostate cancer survivors, including Nelson, came to Roswell Park Cancer Institute for a reunion with the da Vinci robot -- it was actually a demonstration model of the surgical robot -- and the doctors who used it to treat their cancers.
More than 500 prostate cancer patients and 95 bladder cancer patients have been treated with it at the Buffalo cancer hospital.
Roswell first began using the da Vinci system in August 2004.
Dr. James Mohler, chair of the Department of Urologic Oncology, was one of two surgeons who performed that first robot-assisted surgery.
"It was kind of scary at first,"
Mohler recalled. He was especially grateful to the patients who trusted the doctors enough to let them try it out on them.
But surgeons quickly grew to love the robot for its precision and ease of use.
Patients were thrilled with the minimal pain and the quick recovery.
The robot has two components -- the control console and the remote-controlled arms. A metal sleeve, like those used in regular laparoscopic surgery, is inserted through small slits in the patient's body. Through the sleeves, instruments equipped with tiny forceps, scissors and coagulation devices on the ends are slipped through into the patient. There's also a camera inserted through a slightly larger tube.
The instruments rotate on a 360-degree "wrist," allowing the surgeon a full range of motion.
The surgeon controls the instruments from the console where he or she can see the area that needs to be operated on in 3-D and magnified by 10 times. The surgeon then uses easily manipulated triggers to move the instruments.
The precision of the robot is ideal for surgeries of the pelvic region, said Dr. Khurshid A. Guru, who is pioneering work on the use of the robot to do bladder surgery.
The pelvis, he said, is a very crowded area, making it tricky for surgery.
"God has put three or four organs in there and surrounded it with lots of blood vessels and fatty tissue," he said. "You can't put your head in there."
The robot makes it easier to see and maneuver in delicate areas, Guru said.
Nelson, who brought his wife, Rita, with him to the Roswell Park event, said he opted for the robot-assisted surgery after talking to a friend who also had prostate surgery and had undergone the procedure at another hospital.
"I wasn't scared at all," said Nelson, a deeply religious man who believed his fate rested in God's hands.
Nelson went under the robotic knife on Nov. 1. The procedure lasted about five hours. The next day he went home.
"I felt no pain," he said. "And I had a cheeseburger for supper."
mbecker@buffnews.com
-----
To see more of The Buffalo News, N.Y., or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.buffalonews.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Buffalo News, N.Y.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
