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Franciscan Health System News & Information
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May 29, 2008
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St. Joseph Medical Center is first in Western Washington to offer minimally invasive robot-assisted heart surgery
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St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma has become the first hospital in Western Washington to provide robot-assisted minimally invasive heart surgery, which has many benefits for patients.
Cardiothoracic surgeon Thomas Molloy, MD, performed the region’s first robotically-assisted heart surgery in March at St. Joseph. He has since performed five more of these complex procedures.
Dr. Molloy, who is medical director for cardiac surgery at St. Joseph Medical Center, has used the four-armed Da Vinci Surgical System robot to perform delicate repairs of the heart’s mitral valve, to remove tumors in the heart, to close septal defects (holes) in the heart, to treat atrial fibrillation (irregular heart rhythm) and to facilitate coronary bypass operations.
“The surgical robot enables us to perform procedures with more precision, which will lead to better clinical outcomes for our patients,” he said. “Minimally invasive robotic valve surgery improves our ability to repair the mitral valve versus replacing the valve, resulting in less pain and blood loss, and faster recovery, compared with standard sternotomy approaches.”
Robotically assisted surgery eliminates traditional incisions. Instead, four small “ports” are used through which medical instruments are inserted into the patient’s chest. The robot has three surgical arms, plus an imaging arm that provides the surgeon with a magnified, high-definition 3-D image of the surgery site. The robot is run by the surgeon who sits at the master console just a few feet from the patient. The surgeon’s hand movements at the console are transferred to precise robotic instrument movements inside the patient’s chest.
Additionally, “St. Joseph’s excellent sub-specialized anesthesia, physician assistant, perfusion, nurse and technical support team is critical to the success of the minimally invasive program,” says Dr. Molloy. He has performed more than 200 minimally invasive procedures, 1,000 cardiac valve surgeries, and 3,000 total cardiac surgeries in his career.
“Surgical robotics is the future of surgery and the future is already at St. Joseph Medical Center,” said Karen Qvale, director of the St. Joseph Heart & Vascular Center, the leading cardiac surgery provider in the South Sound.
Designated as a Cardiac Care Center of Excellence by Blue Cross and Blue Shield, St. Joseph Medical Center also serves as a national show site for demonstrations of new technology and innovative medical practices.
The medical center, which is part of the Franciscan Health System, was the first to bring the newest generation of the Da Vinci surgical robot to the South Sound earlier this year. In addition to heart surgery, this sophisticated technology is used in many prostate and gynecological procedures performed at St. Joseph.
Other medical technology firsts for St. Joseph Medical Center include being the only hospital in the South Sound using the Gamma Knife in minimally invasive brain surgery.
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Franciscan Health System includes St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma, St. Clare Hospital in Lakewood, St. Francis Hospital in Federal Way; Enumclaw Regional Hospital in Enumclaw; St. Anthony Hospital in Gig Harbor (opens in 2009); Franciscan Medical Group (a network of primary care and specialty care clinics and physicians); and Franciscan Hospice House in University Place. In addition to medical, surgical and emergency care, the Franciscan organization is the leading provider of cardiac and surgical weight loss services in the South Puget Sound region. Franciscan has received the 2007 Washington State Quality Award in recognition of its high quality and performance excellence. Franciscan is affiliated with Catholic Health Initiatives, one of the nation’s largest non-profit health care systems. Franciscan website: http://www.fhshealth.org/
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