The surgical services team at Tanner Medical Center/Villa Rica recently completed the hospital's first robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery in its new state-of-the-art surgical services center.
José Espinel, MD, a board-certified surgeon with Carrollton Surgical Group and a member of the medical staff at Tanner Health System, performed the surgery — a robotic-assisted cholecystectomy, which is a procedure to remove the gallbladder — on the hospital’s new da Vinci X surgical system developed by Intuitive Surgical.
“This marks another milestone for us as we expand access to greater levels of care for our neighbors in Villa Rica and many more throughout the region,” said Dr. Espinel.
Robotic-assisted surgery with the da Vinci surgical system allows surgeons to perform a wide range of procedures with greater accuracy through a few tiny incisions. Surgery on the da Vinci system is less invasive and more precise, and patients experience less post-operative pain, less scarring, a more comfortable recovery and a quicker return to normal activities.
Dr. Espinel explained that the small keyhole-sized incisions from minimally invasive surgery are also more cosmetic, whereas traditional procedures are often performed through larger incisions that can leave larger scars.
Dr. Espinel started performing robotic-assisted surgery in 2015, and since then he has completed more than 200 procedures. He performs a variety of minimally invasive robotic-assisted surgeries at Tanner, including surgical treatment for gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, with the LINX® Reflux Management System, as well as surgery for gallbladder removal for gallstones, myotomies for esophageal achalasia and procedures for hiatal and abdominal wall hernias.
In addition to the new da Vinci X system at Tanner Medical Center/Villa Rica, Tanner is also home to two more da Vinci systems; the da Vinci Xi and the da Vinci Si HD, both at Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton.
Tanner was one of the first health systems in the region to offer robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery, and its surgical teams have completed more than 1,000 robotic-assisted surgeries since the program launched in 2013.
For more information about the minimally invasive surgery options available at Tanner, visit SurgeryAtTanner.org.