Vim & Vigor - Fall 2013 - Gwinnett Medical Center - (Page 40)

Back on Your Feet –and Beating the Odds The most common MIS procedure by far is gallbladder removal. “This has had a big impact overall on healthcare costs as well as patient comfort and outcomes,” Tsuda says. “The alternative is a fairly large incision under your right rib cage, and that hurts and means you’re in the hospital and out of work for a while. With this surgery, you can often be back to work within a few days and certainly within a week or two.” These kinds of beneﬁts—less pain, earlier return to bowel function, less narcotic use (and related adverse events), lower risk for infection and a faster recovery— have been experienced in a variety of MIS procedures and are making their way to cancer treatment as well. “When it comes to cancer operations, they can start your chemotherapy and adjuvant treatments sooner because the inﬂammatory response and your body’s ability to heal is much quicker,” Redan says. “For the average colon cancer operation that I do now, they’re out in two days and back to work in two weeks. It used to be, they were in the hospital two weeks and it took two months to recover. We don’t see that anymore.” Modern Surgical Milestones 1812 Removal of cataracts and kidney, bladder and urethral stones documented, as well as use of leeches for bloodletting. 40 FA L L 2 013 Anesthesia introduced. The potential of MIS is limitless, and newer techniques like robotic surgery are feeding its growth. “There are already 2,000 robotic devices in hospitals around the world,” Tsuda says. During robotic surgery, a surgeon sits at a console and manipulates the robot much like a video game, using 3-D images of the internal organs and robotic arms to perform the procedure with precision. “This helps reduce some of the natural disadvantages of humans performing surgery, like hand tremor. It also solves other visual problems of minimally invasive surgery by replacing a twodimensional image with a three-dimensional one,” Tsuda says. For his part, Redan prefers the term “computerassisted surgery,” which acknowledges that technology isn’t the only force in play when it comes to surgical advances. “You’ve got to remember that R2-D2 is not doing your operation,” he says. “Computer-assisted surgery is evolving, but there’s still a surgeon there.” 1880 Minimally invasive surgery has been around for only a couple of decades of “modern” surgery’s 200-year history. In this timeline, we hit some of the surgical highlights that paved the way for MIS. 1846 Robotics in Perspective Appendix removed. 1868 1867 1929 Successful gallbladder surgery performed. Antisepsis using carbolic acid introduced to help keep surgical wounds clean and reduce infection. 1884 Brain tumor removed. Successful heart catheterization accomplished (not commonplace until 1960s). 1912 Blood vessels sutured, marking beginning of vascular surgery. 1948 Successful mitral-valve disease surgery performed.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Fall 2013 - Gwinnett Medical Center

Vim & Vigor - Fall 2013 - Gwinnett Medical Center
Contents
Phil’s Feature
Kind and Generous
How Can We Help?
Step It Up
Your Mightiest Muscle
Well, Well, Well
Are You Doing More Harm Than Good?
Is Your Shut-Eye Serving You Well?
Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge
Anatomy of an ER Visit
Next-Gen Surgery
Attack from Within
Virtual Health
PrimeTime Health
Clear Passage
New Life with New Knees
Out of the White Coat
Transforming Healthcare

Vim & Vigor - Fall 2013 - Gwinnett Medical Center