At St. Tammany Health System, innovation is not confined to laboratories or operating rooms. Sometimes, it shows up right in the lobby of its flagship St. Tammany Parish Hospital.
That was the case Friday, April 24, when physicians, colleagues and members of the community gathered for an interactive demonstration of the da Vinci 5, the latest generation of robotic-assisted surgical technology designed to help surgeons perform minimally invasive procedures with enhanced precision, control and visualization.
Hosted in partnership with the medical technology company Intuitive, the event invited attendees to step up to the console and test the system’s capabilities firsthand. Using a red bell pepper as a patient stand-in, participants also got an up-close look at how advanced technology is helping shape surgical care close to home.
Used in a range of abdominal procedures – from hernia repairs and colon resections to gall bladder surgeries, appendix surgeries and more – the da Vinci 5 boasts a number of advancements over its predecessors.
“The analogy I always tell people, since lots of people are familiar with iPhones, is that this is the newest and brightest iPhone, takes the best pictures. And really that’s one of the biggest things, the imaging quality, so you can see the images really clearly,” said Dr. Jacob Daigle, a surgeon with St. Tammany Health System’s Northlake Surgical Associates practice. “The old technology is still very good, but this is an updated platform. It’s got better ergonomics for the physician, and some of the instruments we use are newer and updated.”
The demonstration also served as a celebration of a recent milestone for St. Tammany Health System surgeons, who recently completed their 500th procedure using the da Vinci 5 platform. Across the life of the health system’s robotics program, its surgeons have now performed more than 11,700 da Vinci-assisted procedures.
For the health system, the event reflected a longstanding dedication to technology and innovation. That commitment dates to 2007, when STHS purchased its first da Vinci system, establishing itself as the first medical robotics institute along the Interstate 12 corridor. Since then, the health system has continued to invest in advanced surgical technology, adding multiple robotic platforms in support of high-quality care close to home.
Dr. Jonathan Brent Moss, who is also a surgeon with STHS’s Northlake Surgical practice, said the health system’s investments in such technology as the da Vinci 5 benefit patients in meaningful ways.
“It’s really good for the patient,” Dr. Moss said. “It decreases length of stay, it decreases operative time, it decreases post-operative pain – and any time we as general surgeons can perform a surgery minimally invasively and decrease pain, we’re going to do that.”
Dr. Sunhil Purohit of Louisiana Healthcare Associates’ Urology Division said he sees those benefits first-hand.
“Before, patients used to stay three or four days after these complex surgeries. Now, they leave either same day or next day,” Dr. Purohit said. “It makes a huge difference on cost but more importantly, on patient recovery, getting back to work, getting back to being productive.”