Capital Region Medical Center to offer robotic surgery

Da Vinci XI Surgical Center
Da Vinci XI Surgical Center

Capital Region Medical Center is now the first and only hospital in Jefferson City to offer robotic surgery.

The hospital's new Da Vinci XI Surgical Center will provide a way for surgeons like Dr. Carl Doerhoff to conduct minimally invasive surgery in the areas of gynecology, urology, thoracic, cardiac and general surgery.

Doerhoff unveiled the functionality of the surgical robot to the Leadership Jefferson City group last week, where he explained his main area of interest at the moment is hernias.

"One out of five hernia surgeons use a robot," Doerhoff said. "Until now, we've done zero in Jefferson City."

The first case using the Da Vinci XI will be performed Monday, and Doerhoff said 12 cases will follow that one.

Despite the Da Vinci XI's $2.3 million price tag, Doerhoff said the new equipment is worth it for those undergoing surgery.

"This is a big win for patients - not necessarily for the hospitals," he said. "Jefferson City needed this, and Capital Region stepped up to the plate and got it. So it's not about cost, it's about patient outcomes."

Doerhoff explained hospitals don't get reimbursed any more for using the robotic surgical equipment as supposed to traditional incisional procedures.

The robot allows surgeons to retract, move the camera themselves and have two arms to operate, Doerhoff said.

The difference between laparoscopic surgery - also known as a minimally invasive incisional procedure - and the use of robotic surgery equipment is surgeons can do things inside of the body with the robot they were only able to do through an incision before, with the additional benefit of increased precision.

Doerhoff said robotic surgery can reduce complications, decrease hospital stays and reduce patient recovery time.

To be trained, surgeons must complete four phases of online training, where they learn about the robot and its functionality, log more than 100 hours of hands-on training at a local hospital in cadaver and animal labs, and meet the hospital's credential requirements.

Doerhoff emphasized hospitals have the power to set the bar for the level of credentials it takes for a surgeon to be eligible to use the robot, making it safer for patients.

"Once you have a robot in the community, you're going to attract more surgeons that have been trained to use the robot," Doerhoff said.

The nearest hospital with robotic surgery capabilities before CRMC is in Columbia.

Other versions of the Da Vinci robot did not have the ability to rotate the robot to align with the patient if he or she needed to be moved in another direction. Now, a surgeon never has to move the machine or the patient - just the instruments.