Innovation
Meet the robots: Charlton Memorial to unveil new technology at special event
Charlton Memorial Hospital’s main lobby will host two public showcases of Southcoast Health’s next generation of surgical technology on Monday, Nov. 4, from 7am to 9am and 3pm to 6pm.
Southcoast surgeons and other providers will offer visitors an up-close look at the latest advances in the machines changing the ways procedures are performed.
Among the physicians scheduled to appear is Dr. Dennis LaRock, Southcoast Health Chief of Robotic Surgery, who will present on the da Vinci Xi Surgical Robot from 7am to 8am. The recently acquired system can be used across a spectrum of surgical procedures and has been optimized for multi-quadrant surgeries in the areas of gynecology, urology, thoracic, cardiac and general surgery.
“This is the latest technology available anywhere,” said LaRock, who is also Chief of Urology at Southcoast. “We have continued to stay at the forefront of robotic surgery, and this keeps us in step with centers across the country. It is always our goal to enable to the best care possible for our patients, and the da Vinci Xi System allows greater ease and accuracy for our surgeons while also being minimally invasive.”
Also in attendance will be Dr. Tammy Gleeson, who directed Southcoast’s first da Vinci Xi surgery, and Dr. Brian Edkin, who has led Southcoast’s implementation of the Mako Robotic-Arm Assisted Total Knee Replacement. This transformative technology will be on display, as will the 7D Surgical Machine-vision Image Guided Surgery.
“As a spinal surgeon, the 7D technology provides me with more information when placing hardware in the spine, because I can see the anatomy in 3D as opposed to the 2D intraoperative images taken with standard fluoroscopy,” said Dr. Matt Philips, neurosurgeon at Southcoast Health’s Brain & Spine Center. “The system also spares the patient and surgical team exposure to the harmful radiation that comes with radiographic imaging associated with traditional robotic approaches. The patient really benefits, because we can image the patient so much quicker we are dramatically reducing the time the patient spends in surgery.”
Other surgeons available for interviews at this one-time only event will include Dr. Patrick Fei and Dr. Jamsheed Vakharia.