Rambam – Israel’s leading hospital in robotic surgery

Anyone who thought the idea of a robot in the operating room was just a trend was wrong. Over the past few years, the Da Vinci robot has established himself as a rather busy surgeon. More than two hundred robotic surgeries in the area of uro-gynecology alone have been performed at Rambam, thereby turning the Haifa hospital into Israel’s leading center in this field. What’s next? According to forecasts, the robot will not be taking a leave anytime soon…

What is the Da Vinci robot?

The Da Vinci robot is used in the fields of urology, EEG, surgeries in children, and uro-gynecology. The system was approved for clinical use by the FDA in 2000.

The Da Vinci robot is a sophisticated robot valued at $2.6 million. The system includes three mechanical arms and a camera (which combines two parallel cameras and thus enables three-dimensional vision).

The mechanical arms are inserted into the patient's body using a standard laparoscopic technique. The surgeon sitting next to the CONSOLE is able to work most efficiently when two fingers (thumb and index finger) are inserted into rings that accurately translate the movements of the fingers to the movements of the mechanical arms. Pressing the pedal allows control of the movements of the camera and its proximity to or distance from the surgical field.

The Da Vinci robotic system brings with it a number of advantages. The surgeon operating the robot has a comfortable working environment, and his or her vision is completely three-dimensional, with a magnification of twelve times the surgeon's vision in a traditional surgery.

The robot’s arms accurately mimic the movements of the human hand. Translating large movements of the surgeon into small movements of the arms allows for great accuracy and eliminates shaking movements.

Uro-gynecological surgeries with the use of the Da Vinci robot at Rambam

Around 2010, Rambam Medical Center began performing uro-gynecological surgeries using the Da Vinci robot. Uro-gynecology is a field of medicine that deals with issues of uterine and vaginal prolapse, chronic pain in the pelvis, and other related problems. Since the robot began working, more than 200 surgeries have been performed by the Da Vinci method, making Rambam the leading center in Israel for robotic treatment of these medical conditions.

The upward trend in the performance of these operations at Rambam is, in fact, consistent with the perception of work in the United States. According to studies, it is estimated that by 2050, the proportion of women who will need surgery to correct pelvic prolapse will rise by 50 percent in the United States, due to the increase in life expectancy.

In the face of those future predictions, operating with the aid of the robot surgeon is a logical choice, as the technique has a particularly high success rate of about 95%.

Numerous studies done in the United States and Europe indicate the many advantages of the robotic system. The robot assists the surgeon in performing complex surgical procedures that the human hand finds difficult to perform, and allows the surgeon to see the surgical field as a very high-resolution 3D image. Robotic surgeries also involve less bleeding and a lower complication rate.

Because these surgeries are performed using a laparoscopic approach via several tiny openings in the abdominal wall that are only a few millimeters long, the recovery time and hospitalization are significantly shorter.

The high success rates, as well as the advantages of the technique, make it clear why the utilization of robotic surgery systems is on the rise around the world.