Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis has acquired a da Vinci. No, the hospital has not
purchased a painting. Rather, in the summer of 2003, Baptist Memphis became the first
hospital in the Mid-South to own a new robotic surgery device called the da Vinci®.
The machine allows surgeons to perform open-heart surgery without opening the chest. It
has four "arms," one with a camera attached. Surgeons simply make four small
incisions in the patient’s chest, insert the arms into the incision and perform the
operation. The da Vinci can be used for open-heart, gynecologic, prostate, urologic
and other surgical procedures.
Photo Gallery
To view an enlarged photo, point the cursor to one of the thumbnail photos.
To give perspective on the capabilities of the da Vinci, the camera’s magnification of
the heart and surrounding area is such that a suture, which is about the size of a
piece of thread, appears as the size of a rope. The camera allows surgeons to see more than
they could if they were to cut open the patient’s chest.
Because surgeons make only small incisions, patients benefit in a number of ways:
Reduced surgical incisions
Reduced blood loss
Reduced recovery time and post-operation length of stay
Reduced cost
In addition there is less pain after surgery and patients and insurance companies both
benefit because the da Vinci decreases the length of stay in the hospital, which in
turn decreases the cost of stay. Patients experience a shorter recovery time – one
Baptist patient was back at work seven days after his prostate surgery. In addition, cosmetically,
smaller incisions mean smaller scars.
Primarily used for heart and prostate surgeries at this time, the number and different
types of procedures will increase as more Baptist physicians learn how to use the da
Vinci system.
In keeping with the three-fold ministry of Christ - preaching, teaching and healing - Baptist Memorial Health Care is committed to providing quality health care.
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