A robotic surgical tool has been used to perform prostate procedures in the United States for the first time after doctors at the Cleveland Clinic recently used the device in three prostate surgeries.
A Miracle of Modern Engineering
Known as the Single Port SP robot, the new surgical tool was designed specifically to be used during single-port laparoscopic surgeries, which involve making a single incision in the patient’s navel through which the entire procedure is completed. Such a feat would be, to put it simply, next to impossible with traditional laparoscopic technologies, as each tool used in a laparoscopy needs to pass through its own incision.
This makes Single Port SP noteworthy as it can help surgeons perform procedures in a less invasive manner with higher levels of precision. In the case of the recent Cleveland Clinic surgeries, doctors who normally would have had to have made five or six incisions for each procedure needed to make only a single incision with Single Port SP. In fact, the three surgeries — two cancerous prostate removals and the removal of one enlarged prostate — were all done with comparative ease, according to Cleveland Clinic doctors.
Same-Day Turn Around Time
As a result, many patients that undergo prostate surgeries performed with the new robot are able to return home to their normal lives much more quickly and with less pain. In fact, the first patient treated by the new procedure, Jim Sofranko, was able to have his prostate removed as an outpatient procedure, returning home the same day.
The Single Port SP robot is currently only cleared for urological surgeries by the FDA, and the Cleveland Clinic is looking forward to using this new technology on not just prostate surgeries but on reconstructive, kidney, and bladder surgeries going forward. However, hopes are high that colorectal and ENT surgeries will soon be permitted as well, providing even more opportunities for Single Port SP to shine.