July - 20209At OhioHealth Dublin Methodist Hospital, outside of Columbus, Ohio, we were among the first 10 or so hospitals in the world to install a da Vinci SP robot and have been using it for over a year. We have reported our initial experience in 100 patients treated for prostate cancer, kidney cancer, and other urologic conditions with nearly 90 percent of these patients going home the same day as surgery. On average, we have seen a 15 percent reduction in pain, which will require larger numbers of patients to validate but most patients are managed with no narcotics postoperatively, which in the era of the opioid crisis is significant. In addition, as the longer-term implications of the COVID-19 crisis become more clear, it may be important to minimize hospital lengths of stay not only for cost reduction but to protect postoperative patients from potential exposure to infections now more than ever.Certainly, for now, single-port robotic surgery is still cutting edge and won't be for every surgeon or every hospital. As early adopters, we recognized a value in being progressive in our market and the opportunity to contribute to the future of robotic surgery given that we have an already very mature multidisciplinary program. But this will not be the case for all. Some hospitals will want more data and a better understanding of financial impact before investing, and some surgeons will need more time to be convinced that it is worth adopting. We are currently hosting urologists from around the country wanting to observe SP robotic surgery and "kick the tires" so to speak and anticipate a growing interest particularly over the next year and beyond as additional robotic systems hit the market, and surgeons and their hospitals have to decide how their robotic surgery programs will evolve. So is single-port robotic surgery a game changer or just a little bit better? The answer is that time will tell and that it probably depends less on just having a robot with the capability and more on what your team of surgeons across specialties can do with it.Ronney AbazaFor some types of surgery, the SP robot is definitely a game changer because it allows access into the body through natural orifices and can work in tight spaces
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