[HTML1]When people hear the phrase “robotic surgery,” they might imagine this scenario: a device walks in the room, shakes the patient’s hand with one of its appendages, then flips the individual over and goes to work. In real life medicine, this is obviously not the case — even when the device is called the da Vinci robot. And on this edition of Your Health Matters, host Christopher Springmann speaks with Dr. Kristofer Wagner, a urologist and Director of Robotic Surgery at Scott & White Healthcare, and Dr. Patrick Lowry, a genitourinary surgeon also with Scott & White, to explore the present and future of laparoscopic surgery, which involves instruments inserted through small incisions rather than what is called an open procedure, which involves a significant incision. In other words, Drs. Wagner and Lowry and the da Vinci robot are on the front lines of what is called minimally invasive surgery.
More about Kristofer Wagner
Dr. Kristofer R. Wagner, M.D., Director of Robotic Surgery in the Urology Department at Scott & White Healthcare’s Temple, Texas clinic, earned his B.S. at Pepperdine University and his M.D. at University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. He trained in urology at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, and in endourology, laparoscopy and robotic surgery at George Washington University Hospital. He joined Scott & White in 2007.
More about Patrick Lowry
Dr. Patrick Lowry, M.D. trained in general surgery and urology through Texas A&M University at Scott & White Healthcare, and also in laparoscopic surgery and comprehensive kidney stone management at the University of Wisconsin. He’s been with Scott & White Healthcare since 2003, with a patient care emphasis including kidney cancer and kidney stones, metabolic evaluation for stone prevention, minimally invasive surgery, prostate cancer, robotic surgery, and robotic/laparoscopic radical prostatectomy – da Vinci prostatectomy.
More about Scott & White Healthcare
When Arthur C. Scott, M.D. and Raleigh R. White Jr., M.D. began their medical practice in Temple, Texas in 1897, they shared one fundamental conviction: medicine must serve the people. Today, Scott & White Healthcare is a fully integrated health system — the largest multi-specialty practice in Texas and the sixth largest group practice in the nation. Scott & White employs more than 1,100 health care providers and research scientists who care for patients covering 25,000 square miles across Central Texas.
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Nice radio commentary – however, the doctors mentioned nothing about the horrific erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence rates that occur among the first 100+ patients that these doctors take to reach their peak learning curve. Reports of only 50 patients in a learning curve are highly exaggerated and the side effects are dramatically underplayed by these doctors.
Dave:
Thanks for your comments. I’d like to see the research that is the basis for your comment.
Christopher Springmann
Dave – thanks for your observations but where are the documented facts, please? Post that information plus links, documentation, studies . . .