'We Don't Put Little Robots Inside Your Abdomen that Run Around and Do the Surgery'
- Robotic ovarian cancer surgery can help to minimize blood loss and improve outcomes
- During the surgery, doctors will use mechanical tools to access hard-to-reach areas through small incisions
- There are still some parts of the surgery where the surgeons directly use their hands, so it’s not 100% robotic
For a while, the way that surgeons would perform ovarian cancer surgery would be to open up a woman’s entire abdomen, making an incision pretty much from her rib cage all the way down to her public bone. Now, things are much different and usually far less invasive. Cameras and special robotic surgery tools now make it possible for surgeons to operate through a series of small (half-an-inch or an inch) incisions. This greatly minimizes the recovery time and can have benefits for outcomes as well, says Dr. James Wilder, a gynecologic oncology surgeon with South Texas Gynecologic Oncology in San Antonio Texas, part of the Baptist Health system.
Read More“Your view is magnified about 20 times,” says Dr. Wilder. “And with that extra view, it’s almost like you can sense things. So you don’t actually have to feel them, you can see things and see what looks harder and what looks softer. Everything’s more precise.”
With this extra precision, he adds, many women undergoing robotic ovarian cancer surgery will end up experiencing less blood loss and, ultimately, having better outcomes.
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.