VALLEY RESIDENTS CAN “TEST DRIVE” ROBOT USED FOR SURGERY IN BROWNSVILLE THIS SATURDAY
Residents invited to try out robot, which keeps score like a video game; at Sunrise Mall in Brownsville Saturday
Valley residents of all ages are invited to “test drive” a robot this Saturday (February 16) from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Brownsville at Sunrise Mall (at “Center Court” in the mall).
Valley children, teenagers, and adults of all ages can try their out the robot, to see how it feels – and how good they are at using the controls on the console to maneuver tiny surgical instruments and “sew stitches” as if they were really a surgeon. The demonstration robot even keeps “score,” like a video game.
Surgeons at Valley Baptist Medical Center-Brownsville and Valley Baptist-Harlingen have been using the “da Vinci® ‘Si’ Robotic Surgical Systems” for various types of surgeries – including treating painful gall stones through a single tiny incision, about an inch long, in the patient’s belly button. These “single-site” surgeries allow Valley patients to go home with virtually no scars visible from their surgery.
In addition to gall stones, Valley surgeons use the robot as an extension of their own hands to perform minimally-invasive surgeries for patients with gynecological, urological and other conditions — including for treating cancer patients.
During their “test drive” of the robot, Valley residents will be able to look through the console with 1080i high-definition video, the way surgeons do to better view cancers, blood flow, and various parts of the body. The monitors magnify extremely small areas inside the human body, displaying them in striking detail, as three-dimensional images. This allows surgeons to perform various surgeries through extremely-small incisions.
Since the smaller incisions are able to heal faster in many cases, many patients lose less blood, have less scarring, and less pain. As a result, many patients are able to get out of the hospital within a day, return home to their families, and get back to work and their normal activities much faster than with traditional “open” surgery.The “test-driving” of the robot is free and open to the public.
For more information on robotic and other minimally-invasive surgeries, consult your physician, call (956) 542-5433