da Vinci® General Surgery
Doctors often recommend surgery when medicine and lifestyle changes cannot ease your
abdominal or gastrointestinal symptoms. If your doctor recommends surgery, learning about all
surgical options can help you to make the best decision for your situation.
Surgery is often an effective treatment for many abdominal and GI conditions, but traditional
open surgery with a large incision is highly invasive. Open surgery may also require a long
hospital stay and lengthy recovery.
Fortunately, there are minimally invasive surgical options. The most common is laparoscopic
surgery (laparoscopy). Surgeons make a few small incisions and insert a tiny camera and longhandled instruments to reach inside your abdomen. The camera transmits images onto a video
monitor in the operating room to guide surgeons as they operate. Traditional laparoscopy is
effective for many routine procedures but the rigid surgical instruments can be technically
challenging for delicate or complex operations.
da Vinci Surgery
da Vinci Surgery is another minimally invasive option for patients facing abdominal or
gastrointestinal surgery. Instead of a large abdominal incision used in open surgery, da Vinci
surgeons make a few small incisions - similar to traditional laparoscopy. However, the da Vinci
System features a magnified 3D high-definition vision system and special wristed instruments
that bend and rotate far greater than the human wrist. As a result, da Vinci enables your surgeon
to operate with enhanced vision, precision, dexterity and control.
State-of-the-art da Vinci uses the latest in surgical and robotics technologies and is beneficial for
performing complex surgery. Your surgeon is 100% in control of the da Vinci System, which
translates his or her hand movements into smaller, more precise movements of tiny instruments
inside your body.