SPACE-AGE GASTRIC BYPASS
About 100,000 Americans will go under the knife for gastric bypass surgery this year. It's one of the most difficult surgeries for doctors to perform. Now, a robot is making the surgery easier on both doctors and patients.
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More and more Americans are fighting the battle of the bulge. James Hampton has almost won his war. He's lost more than 125 pounds!
James Hampton
Had gastric bypass surgery
"I done already lost, what three little kids? Three 50-pound kids."
He used to weigh 460 pounds, but gastric bypass surgery gave him his life back.
James Hampton
"Everyday, what it was like before the surgery? Painful, miserable, depressed."
James's surgery was a success, but it was different than most procedures. His surgeon was a robot!
Researchers at Stanford University are among the first in the country to perform a laparoscopic robotic gastric bypass.
A surgeon sits at a special station and controls every move the robot makes.
Myriam Curet, M.D.
General Surgeon
Stanford University Medical Center
Palo Alto, CA
"The robot actually does the surgery itself. So, we use the robot to pick up the intestine and run the intestines, and we use the robot to suture the intestine."
Doctor Myriam Curet says the robot uses more precise instruments and allows surgeons to see the organs in 3D. It also reduces operating time.
Myriam Curet, M.D.
"The technology is great. You know, an opportunity to do something that's great for the patient in a way that makes it safer, easier, more precise"
Now, James is off the 14 medications he used to take and is a lot healthier.
James Hampton
"I realized I could cross my legs."
And that was just the beginning.
The robot costs about one million dollars. Doctor Curet says there still needs to be research conducted to determine the cost effectiveness. Right now, there are about a dozen surgeons around the country who are using the robot for portions of the surgery, but Stanford is the only center that uses it for the entire operation.
BACKGROUND: About 119 million, or 65 percent, of adults in the United States are either overweight or obese. According to projections, 73 percent of U.S. adults could be overweight or obese by 2008. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services set a national goal of reducing obesity in adults to 15 percent or less of the population by 2010. As the obesity epidemic grows, so does the number of gastric bypass operations. In the United States alone, the number of surgeries increased from 29,000 procedures in 1999 to about 141,000 in 2004, according to the American Society for Bariatric Surgery. The procedure poses about a 2 percent risk of mortality and requires lifelong changes in eating habits.
THE TRADITIONAL SURGERY: Gastric bypass procedures are indisputably complicated for surgeons for many reasons. First, the surgery takes several hours, demanding the surgeon to be on his or her feet continuously with non-wavering focus. In addition, the surgery is often preformed on morbidly obese patients, forcing the doctor to hold, lift, or shift large organs that can weigh up to several pounds each. While the doctor is straining to position these organs with one hand, he or she is also controlling the laparoscopic tools in the their other hand, sometimes putting them in difficult or awkward positions. Lastly, because of the size of the organs, the surgeons must often place the laparoscopic tools in tight and hard to reach places using a two-D fiber optic camera to guide them, which can be limiting and has substandard visual quality.
THE ROBOTIC SURGERY: Myriam Curet, M.D., associate professor of surgery at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, uses an improved method of performing this surgery with a robot. Many of the issues causing surgeons difficulties in performing the laparoscopic surgery have now been eliminated using the robotic method. Now, instead of standing on their feet for hours, doctors can sit comfortably throughout the entire surgery using a remote control to guide the robot. In addition, the robot has a much stronger ability to move the organs without shaking or becoming fatigued during the surgery, and it comes equipped with a three-D camera to aid the doctor's visualization during the surgery. Unlike surgeons, the robot's arms come with wrist that have eight degrees of freedom and much smaller, hand-like devices, which means smaller incisions in the patient's body. Although the robotic surgery needs to be studied further, researchers believe it saves both patients and surgeons time and undue stress.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE PATIENT: With all of these added benefits for the surgeons, the patients will reap some rewards as well. The robotic surgery has been successful in providing patients with better precision, less pain, quicker recovery, and overall, more satisfaction. In addition, reputable specialty surgeons who have been forced to retire due to tremors commonly seen in elderly people will be able to perform surgeries much longer now. Robotic surgery has already been used to perform many other surgeries, including kidney removal, prostate removal, and cardiac surgeries. Researchers say more are expected in the future.
M.A. Malone
7019 Welch Rd. Suite 2207
Palo Alto, CA. 94304
(650) 723-6912
Mamalone@Stanford.Edu
Copyright © 2005 Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc.
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