Craig Peters, MD, a urologic surgeon at Children's and associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School will perform the surgery. Alan Retik, MD, chief of surgery and urology at Children's, will moderate the event to explain critical portions of the surgery and answer e-mail question from viewers during the live Webcast.
The open pyeloplasty surgery is usually performed by making an incision in the patient's side under the rib. Alternately, it may be performed laparoscopically, though few surgeons have learned how to do this efficiently. Using minimally invasive robotic methods, surgeons are able to perform the complete reconstructive surgery laparoscopically with very high precision, eliminating the need for a large surgical incision. "I find that with the three dimensional imaging I can visualize more effectively and perform more precise and complex reconstructive surgery inside the abdomen," says Peters.
"Although operative times have increased with the use of the robot compared to traditional open pyeloplasty, we are getting closer to open surgical times, and hospital stays have decreased from three days to one," says Peters. The robotic surgery also reduces blood loss, postoperative pain and allows for a quicker recovery from surgery.
While success rates of open and robotic assisted pyeloplasty are similar, robotic surgery has not been performed as long as the open procedure. Further analysis is needed to determine if the advantages out weigh the disadvantages, including cost and longer operative times. "I th
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Contact: Mary-Ellen Shay
mary.shay@childrens.harvard.edu
617-355-6420
Children's Hospital Boston
29-Jun-2005