Hospital group Netcare has deployed a Da Vinci Xi surgical system at its facility in the east of Pretoria. Robotic assisted surgery allows doctors to perform complex procedures with more precision, flexibility and control.
The robotic system includes a camera arm and mechanical arms with surgical instruments attached to them, which a surgeon controls while seated at a computer console near the operating table, and the group claims it is the first of its kind in the private sector in South Africa.
The console gives surgeons a high-definition, magnified, 3D view of the surgical site.
The system will be used for a range of surgical procedures by the initial robotic surgical team of urologists: Drs Johan Venter, Paul Smit and Michael Heyns.
“This fourth-generation version of the robotic system offers even greater control and vision of the operating field, enabling us to operate with absolute precision. In the case of prostate surgery, this is crucial for sparing nerves and, ultimately, continence and potency retention,” Dr Venter said.
“The tiny instruments are more dexterous than the human hand and enable us to work at the exact location needed within the body without the need to interfere with healthy tissues to access the surgical site. The magnified, 3D imaging aspect of the robotic system allows us to see the fine nerves and tissues with much greater clarity and detail than human vision.”
In addition to Netcare Pretoria East, robotic assisted surgery is also offered at Netcare Waterfall City Hospital in Gauteng, Netcare Christiaan Barnard Hospital in Cape Town and Netcare Greenacres Hospital in Gqeberha. Those systems are, however, not as sophisticated as the one installed in Pretoria. — (c) 2023 NewsCentral Media
