Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Surgery with a Robot for the Times Herald Record

I had scheduled a portrait with a doctor at Vassar Brothers Medical Center (see below) and found out that a reporter from the Times Herald-Record was going to be there at the same time - so I offered to shoot her story as well. It turns out the story she was covering was about the recent 100th surgery performed by the da Vinci surgical robot. The robot is used to perform prostate, gynecological and pyeloplasty (renal/kidney) surgeries.

Both the reporter, Deb Medenbach, and I were able to witness a hysterectomy performed with the da Vinci surgical robot, a five million dollar machine purchased by the hospital almost a year ago. A patient was placed on a bed at a downward angle, small incisions were made on either side of her stomach, and the "arms" of the "praying mantis-style" robot were put into the incisions. A surgeon, Dr. Cornelius Verhoest, on the other side of the room, controled the "arms" through a 3-D, HD station using both his hands and feet - cutting, grabbing, and viewing all of his actions through the eyes ofa camera in a virtual-reality-like experience. Along both sides of the patient were two assistants who held instruments in place inside the patient, following directions by Dr. Verhoest, and monitoring the process on flat-screens on opposite sides of the hospital bed. Talk about high-tech.


November 25, 2008 - Surgical technologist, Bruce Williamson, displays an endowristed instrument used by the da Vinci surgical robot, a $5 million machine used to perform prostate, gynecologial, and pyeloplasty surgeries, at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, NY.

November 25, 2008 - Dr. Cornelius Verhoest (foreground) uses the da Vinci surgical robot to perform a hysterectomy on a patient, while physician assistants Jonathan Condin (left) and Bruce Williamson (right) help guide the instruments Verhoest controls, at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, NY.

November 25, 2008 - Surgical physician assistant Jonathan Condin uses the da Vinci surgical robot to perform a hysterectemy on a patient at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, NY.

November 25, 2008 - Dr. Cornelius Verhoest controls surgical instruments within a patient using the da Vinci surgical robot while performing a hysterectomy at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, NY. The $5 million machine has recently performed it's 100th surgery.

November 25, 2008 - Surgical physician assistants Bruce Williamson (left) and Jonathan Condin (right) help guide the instruments that Dr. Cornelius Verhoest (not pictured) controls using the da Vinci surgical robot during a hysterectomy performed at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, NY. The assistants see what Verhoest sees on adjacent monitors around the operating room and across from each other.

November 25, 2008 - Dr. Naeem Rahman monitors a hysterectomy performed by Dr. Cornelius Verhoest using the da Vinci surgical robot at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, NY. The $5 milllion machine is almost a year old and has recently performed its 100th surgery.

0 comments: