Another First in da Vinci Robotics

at McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center

Springfield, OR – On August 19, 2009, urologist David DiMarco, M.D., and the McKenzie-Willamette da Vinci Robotic Surgery Team completed Oregon's first da Vinci Robotic bladder diverticulectomy (repair of abnormal sacs or pouches in the urinary bladder).*

This new technology reduces the time required for the complex procedure, and also decreases patient discomfort. According to Dr. DiMarco, “the case took less than three hours, with little blood loss and resulted in an excellent patient outcome, with less discomfort than undergoing more conventional minimally invasive surgery.”

Mike Rose, the McKenzie-Willamette patient who underwent this surgery on August 19 said, “Dr. DiMarco suggested da Vinci for my diverticulectomy since it would, in his words, ‘shorten my hospital stay, be less invasive, with less scarring and with a quicker recovery.’”

“After surgery,” Rose continues, “I experienced only some nausea from the anesthesia and a bit of discomfort from a drain tube. In fact I was able to decline the pain medication offered to me while in the hospital. A few hours after surgery, I was walking with the nurse’s help, and by the next day, I felt well enough for Dr. DiMarco to send me home.

“As he promised, you can hardly tell I had surgery; there’s no big scar, and within a few days after the procedure, I was walking and moving around comfortably and able to take care of routine household chores — and to drive!”

“The surgery went very well,” says Dr. DiMarco. “These types of cases require significant reconstruction and are ideal for the da Vinci system. The entire team at McKenzie-Willamette has extensive experience with da Vinci robotics, which facilitates performing complex procedures.”

Jaime Ziebert, CFA/Robotics Coordinator at McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center notes, “The case could not have gone more smoothly. This represents another milestone in the hospital’s ground breaking utilization of da Vinci Robotic Surgery.”

“We are proud to be a hospital that offers our community choices, both through da Vinci Robotics Surgery and other new minimally invasive surgery techniques,” states CEO Maurine Cate. “We continue to embrace innovations in treatments and technologies to create new opportunities to serve the local community.”

*Background.  In the spring of 2006, McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center was the second hospital in Oregon, after OHSU, to implement use of da Vinci Robotic Surgery. Advantages of the robotic approach are the finer precision and dexterity of the instruments coupled with three-dimensional imaging.

Laparoscopic bladder diverticulectomy is the repair of diverticulum, which is an abnormal sac or pouch causing incomplete voiding of the urinary bladder. Diverticulum are associated with increased incidence of infection, urinary tract stone development and carcinoma. A diverticulectomy is performed to remove the pouches or sacs and return the bladder to its original shape and size.

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