Matthew Johnson, MD: DSA Trauma, Critical Care & Robotic Surgeon

Robotic surgery is a method of performing surgery using very small tools attached to a robotic arm. The surgeon controls the robotic arm with a computer.

The surgeon makes small cuts to insert the instruments. A thin tube with a camera attached to the end of it (laparoscope) allows the surgeon to view enlarged 3-D images of your body as the surgery is taking place. The robot matches the doctor’s hand movements to perform the procedure using the tiny instruments.

The surgeon can make small, precise movements using this method. This can allow the surgeon to do a procedure through a small cut that once could be done only with open surgery. It is easier for the surgeon to use the surgical tools with robotic assist than with laparoscopic surgery through an endoscope. The surgeon can also see the area where the surgery is performed more easily. This method lets the surgeon move in a more comfortable way, as well.

Because surgery is done with precision, miniaturization and smaller incisions benefits include:

• Decreased blood loss, less pain, and quicker healing time
• Decreased risk of infection
• Smaller Scars
• Hospital stays are shortened, blood loss is reduced, transfusions are reduced, and use of pain medications are reduced.

Compared with other minimally invasive surgery approaches, robot-assisted surgery gives the surgeon better control over the surgical instruments and a better view of the surgical site. In addition, surgeons no longer have to stand throughout the surgery and do not tire as quickly.

 

Robotic smart instruments also reduce or eliminate the tissue trauma traditionally associated with open surgery.

 

 

Any time an internal body part pushes into an area where it doesn’t belong, it’s called a hernia.
The hiatus is an opening in the diaphragm — the muscular wall separating the chest cavity from the abdomen. Normally, the esophagus (food pipe) goes through the hiatus and attaches to the stomach. In a hiatal hernia (also called hiatus hernia) the stomach bulges up into the chest through that opening.There are two main types of hiatal hernias: sliding and paraesophageal (next to the esophagus).
In a sliding hiatal hernia, the stomach and the section of the esophagus that joins the stomach slide up into the chest through the hiatus. This is the more common type of hernia.
The paraesophageal hernia is less common, but is more cause for concern. The esophagus and stomach stay in their normal locations, but part of the stomach squeezes through the hiatus, landing it next to the esophagus. Although you can have this type of hernia without any symptoms, the danger is that the stomach can become “strangled,” or have its blood supply shut off.
Many people with hiatal hernia have no symptoms, but others may have heartburn related to gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD. Although there appears to be a link, one condition does not seem to cause the other, because many people have a hiatal hernia without having GERD, and others have GERD without having a hiatal hernia.