Robotic Surgery
Chattanooga Gyn-Oncology
is leading the way in using robots for a less invasive gynecologic
cancer surgery.
Robotic surgery has many benefits over traditional surgery:
- Shorter hospital stay
- Less pain and scarring
- Faster recovery
- Less risk of wound infection
- Less blood loss
- Less scarring
Rather than working through one large incision, the robot allows physcians
to work through a few small incisions. The physician guides the robot's
arms from a console several feet away from the operating table. One
arm holds a miniature high resolution 3-D camera, giving the surgeon
a magnified, more detailed view of the surgical area.
Active in robotic surgery since April 2004, Dr. Chamberlain
uses robotic surgery for surgeries like Type III radical hysterectomies,
endometrial cancer staging procedures, early ovarian cancer staging
procedures, and complex benign hysterectomies on patients who have
had many abdominal surgeries in the past.
Dr. Chamberlain travels the country teaching other gynecologic oncologists
how to use the robotic system. Most recently, he presented the largest
da Vinci series in gynecologic oncology or gynecology to the Florida
Society of Gynecologic Oncologists.
Approved by the FDA for use in 2000, there are now almost 300 robotic
surgery systems in the United States. Chattanooga offers two locations
for robotic surgery — Erlanger Medical Center and Parkridge Medical
Center.