Urology has progressed to a point where we now have robotics as a means to treat people for conditions that require surgery in the pelvis, as well as the kidney. Robotics is really a nice tool that we use because it provides better visualization of the structures that we’re operating on. It also allows us to manipulate our instruments with great dexterity and a range of motion.

The base of robotics is performing laparoscopy with the addition of the da Vinci Xi robot. So what is laparoscopy? Laparoscopy is basically insufflating the abdomen or a space with CO2 gas. And after we insufflate that space, we’re able to operate on structures of interest. So, in the pelvis, we have the prostate, the bladder, the ureter, as it enters the bladder, we can also dock in a different viewpoint to the kidney and operate on the kidney. We can even make spaces that don’t really exist, that are potential spaces with a balloon that allows us to get direct access to the kidney from the backside.

One of the benefits of robotics and laparoscopic surgery is the time to recovery. So men and women who need to have surgeries on their prostate bladder, kidney, whatever it is, if they get a minimally invasive approach using the robot, they’re often able to go home earlier from the hospital, as well as regain their functions earlier. So instead of going home on a day two, maybe they’ll go home on day one after surgery, the robotic approach allows for people to recover much more quickly.

Robotic surgery is one of the approaches we use here at Northwoods Urology. If you have a need for surgery and you would like to explore a robotic approach, that’s certainly something that I’d be happy to talk to you about. So what I would recommend is you go to our website or give us a call and make an appointment. And again, I’m Russell Libby with Northwoods Urology of Texas.