Computer-assisted surgery may come to Medford in the form of new technology at Providence hospital
By BILL KETTLER
Mail Tribune
February 12, 2007
If surgery could be transformed into an arcade game, it might look a whole lot like the equipment that paid a visit last week to Providence Medford Medical Center. Surgeons sat in a chair, guiding tiny tools with their hands, wrists and fingers, watching the instruments on a three-dimensional TV screen inside a darkened console. They sewed sutures in artificial skin, inserting needles and tying knots with instruments not much bigger than the sharpened end of a pencil
Providence Medford Medical Center has purchased computer-guided surgical equipment that will mean smaller incisions and shorter hospital stays for many patients. The da Vinci surgical system will be beneficial for men who need prostate surgery and women who need gynecological procedures, said Tom Hanenburg, chief executive for the Providence Health System in Southern Oregon.
