Minimally Invasive Surgery at Carson Tahoe Health

Carson Tahoe Health offers the da Vinci® Xi™ Surgical System to help patients undergoing surgery experience less pain, faster recovery, and more.

Surgeons at Carson Tahoe Regional Medical Center use the da Vinci Xi’s precise movements for a multitude of general surgeries, as well as gynecological and urologic procedures. Prostatectomies, kidney reconstruction, and kidney tumor removal were just some of the 161 robotic-assisted surgeries performed at Carson Tahoe in 2018.

Surgeons use the da Vinci Xi to perform laparoscopic, or minimally invasive, procedures with extreme precision. The system has four robotic arms, including one with a camera, which surgeons direct using finger controls and foot pedals. The robotic arms even have flexible “wrists” that can bend and twist, even greater than those of a human’s.

The Benefits of Robotic Surgery

The benefits of minimally invasive surgery via robotics are profound—less risk of infection, less scarring, and shorter hospital stays to name a few.

“The main strength of the robot is that it gives us this amazing ability to sew tissues very precisely and easily, which can be extremely difficult with standard laparoscopy,” says Roland Chen, MD, FACS, Urologist on staff at Carson Tahoe. “This greater control leads to better outcomes when it comes to surgical correction of blockages in the urinary tract.”

Training Completed at Mayo Clinic

Along with Dr. Chen, Brian Montgomery, MD, Urologist on staff at Carson Tahoe, performs urologic surgeries using the da Vinci Xi system. He recently completed training at the Mayo Clinic, where he used the da Vinci XI to perform multiple prostatectomies.

“We’ve always done radical prostatectomies via an open approach, but now we can offer it with a laparoscopic robotic approach,” Dr. Chen says. “It expands our ability to do more complex cases laparoscopically, especially when a lot of tissue suturing is involved.”

Learn more about how Carson Tahoe Health is using technology to benefit the community.