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At St. John's Hospitals, our paramount commitment is to provide the highest quality care with unwavering attention to your safety. Our team performs state-of-the-art, minimally-invasive robotic surgery to treat a wide variety of complex medical issues, using advanced clinical technologies and pioneering techniques. We’re honored to have been recognized by Surgical Review Corp, a patient safety organization that administers best-in-class accreditation throughout the world, as a nationally recognized Center of Excellence for Robotic Surgery.
Advanced Diagnostic Procedures
St. John's Hospitals offers a minimally-invasive, robotic-assisted bronchoscopy procedure. With exceptional precision and stability, this technology enables our physicians to obtain tissue samples from deep within the lung, addressing a challenging aspect of lung biopsy.
During this specialized bronchoscopy, your physician guides an ultra-thin catheter through your airway to the targeted area of your lung for biopsy. The small, flexible catheter can reach all segments of the lung, even far into the outer lung. Once positioned at the nodule for biopsy, the catheter locks securely in place. Your physician then inserts biopsy tools through the catheter to take a tissue sample. This advanced diagnostic capability complements our robotic-assisted surgical program, allowing patients to receive comprehensive care – from biopsy to surgery – right here at our hospital.
At St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, our highly skilled surgeons utilize advanced robotic surgical systems designed to perform some of the most complex procedures, providing you with unmatched precision and supporting a faster return to your daily life.
With robotic-assisted surgery, the worry of complex procedures with long recovery times can be significantly reduced. Your surgeon maintains seamless control of the procedure via magnified, 3D high-definition views of the surgical site, along with superior visual clarity of tissue and anatomy. This allows surgeons to perform intricate operations through the smallest possible incisions.
Our surgeons and surgical teams undergo extensive training to utilize these sophisticated robotic surgical systems and have successfully performed thousands of cases.
Improving Patient Experiences and Outcomes
This robotic technology significantly helps our surgeons improve patient experiences and outcomes in three important ways:
Our experienced general surgeons specialize in highly complex surgeries. Patients can safely and effectively receive robotic-assisted gallbladder removal, known as laparoscopic cholecystectomy ("lap chole"), and procedures to correct rectal prolapse (rectopexy) through a few small incisions.
For many years, the customary approach to hysterectomy has been open surgery, which involves a large incision to access the uterus and surrounding anatomy. Open surgery can lead to significant pain, trauma, a prolonged recovery process, and potential risks to surrounding organs and nerves.
With robotic hysterectomy, Dignity Health's specially-trained surgeons use advanced robotic systems to operate with greater precision and control. Instead of one large abdominal incision, your surgeon will make four smaller ones, each measuring about 1-2 centimeters. This minimizes the pain and risk associated with large incisions while increasing the likelihood of a faster recovery.
Treatment for Endometriosis
Sometimes the pain caused by endometriosis can be managed with over-the-counter pain medications, anti-inflammatory medication, or birth control hormones. However, if a woman is planning a pregnancy and experiencing fertility issues, or continues to have symptoms despite medication, surgical treatment may be considered.
Choosing fertility-sparing robotic endometriosis resection is a significant advancement for women who wish to build a family. Utilizing robotic techniques to remove endometriosis is an effective treatment for dysmenorrhea (pain with menstruation) or dyspareunia (painful intercourse), while carefully working around vital reproductive structures to maintain fertility. For mature women who are no longer concerned with family planning, robotic radical endometriosis resection, which includes removing the ovaries, fallopian tubes, and uterus, can help ensure they will not require future surgery. This technique helps alleviate pelvic pain, dysmenorrhea, or dyspareunia associated with endometriosis while preserving normal tissues and nerves. Additionally, multidisciplinary procedures, combined with urology or general surgery to treat deep infiltrating endometriosis that may affect the bowel or bladder, can also benefit from a robotic approach.
Urologic Robotic Surgery
At Dignity Health, our surgery center utilizes advanced robotic surgical systems whenever possible. This minimally invasive, robot-assisted surgery allows your surgeon to operate with extreme precision and control, making it ideal for delicate urologic surgeries such as prostatectomy.
How Does Robotic Colorectal Surgery Differ from Traditional Surgery?
Traditional colorectal surgery typically requires a large abdominal incision. Such large incisions have significant drawbacks, including pain, trauma, a long recovery, and an increased risk of infection.
Using the most advanced technology available today, our surgeons can operate through a few tiny incisions with the help of 3D images. Therefore, robotic colorectal surgery increases surgical precision and control and can even be used for complex procedures like low anterior resection or colectomy.
How Does Robotic Prostatectomy Differ from Traditional Surgery?
A prostatectomy targets a confined area surrounded by nerves that affect urinary control and sexual function. Traditional open surgery requires a large, 8- to 10-inch incision. Drawbacks include significant post-surgery pain, a lengthy recovery, and possible long-term impacts on continence and sexual function.
In contrast, our specially trained surgeons work through only a few dime-sized incisions, aided by 3D images. They are experts in nerve-sparing techniques that allow patients to return quickly to their normal lives.
St. John's Hospitals offers minimally invasive robotic-assisted spine surgery. Our advanced robotic systems are designed to improve accuracy and optimize patient care by using robotics and navigation during implant surgery. A robotic arm precisely guides the surgeon to the specific spine region using a carefully planned pathway.
Throughout the procedure, the surgical instruments and implants are continuously displayed on the screen for the surgeon and staff to monitor. This real-time feedback allows the surgeon to visualize and confirm precise implant placement during your procedure.
Day of Surgery:
Benefits of Robotic Surgery
Minimally invasive surgery utilizing advanced robotic technology offers eligible patients a variety of advantages over traditional invasive and laparoscopic procedures, including:
Robotic-assisted surgery is not an option for everyone. It's important to have a comprehensive discussion with your doctor about the benefits and risks of robotic-assisted surgery and how it compares with other techniques, such as other types of minimally invasive surgery and conventional open surgery.
As with any surgery, these benefits cannot be guaranteed, as surgical outcomes are unique to each patient and procedure. While robotic surgical systems are considered safe and effective, they may not be appropriate for everyone. Always talk to your doctor about all treatment options, as well as the associated benefits and risks.
You may be a candidate for minimally invasive robotic-assisted surgery. To speak with a robotic surgery specialist today, please call (855) 400-4761.
