Howard Winfield, M.D., leads a team of UI Health Care surgeons taking a big step in medical technology. Winfield and his colleagues will soon begin using this surgical robot to perform minimally invasive surgeries. That means less tissue damage, reduced pain and quicker healing for patients.

The da Vinci system provides surgeons with a three-dimensional view of the operating area, magnified up to 12 times. Sitting at a console away from the patient, the surgeon uses joystick-like controls to manipulate tiny surgical instruments. These can be used in hard-to-reach areas and turned in ways that would be impossible with normal wrist dexterity.

"What this translates into is a very intuitive machine," says Winfield. "It allows us to do things that are beyond our wildest dreams."

The ‘da vinci’ device is FDA approved for use in surgeries in the abdomen, pelvis and chest. UI Hospitals and Clinics will be the first medical center in Iowa to use this technology for urological procedures. It’s part of an overall plan for the UI Hospitals and Clinics’ Minimally Invasive Surgery Center.

"Essentially, what we are establishing here is a center of excellence, where we want to be the leading minimally invasive surgery center in the Midwest, if not the country," says Winfield.

Surgeons will also be able to study the benefits of this new kind of surgery, to further improve its uses in the future.

Winfield will begin using the da Vinci robot on patients later this month. You can learn more about this technology by visiting http://www.uihealthcare.com/davinci/ .

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About the daVinci Surgical System