The field of gynecology is continually evolving, but few advancements have made an impact like the introduction of minimally invasive surgery. Now, we’re advancing this revolutionary technology a step further by introducing a robotic component, which provides the perfect blend of human experience and machine-driven precision.
Thanks to minimally invasive robotic surgery, Dr. Fernando Otero and the team here at Women’s Clinic of the Rio Grande Valley are able to perform hysterectomies in a way that reduces the collateral damage and many of the risks that came with open surgery.
Here’s a look at just a few of the many benefits of having a robotic hysterectomy.
Traditionally, when surgeons performed a hysterectomy, they made a large incision across your abdomen in order to gain visual and manual access to your reproductive organs. This approach caused blood loss as well as considerable damage to your surrounding tissues.
With minimally invasive surgery, we make only tiny incisions to perform the surgery, thanks to our use of a specialized camera and tools that allow us remote access. For a hysterectomy, we can minimize collateral damage even further as we can often go in through the vagina to avoid surface incisions altogether.
Thanks to a decrease in blood loss and less tissue damage, women are enjoying much shorter recovery times after a hysterectomy. Of course, surgery of any kind still requires some downtime, but a large part of recovering from open surgery was waiting for the abdominal tissues to heal.
When we say robotic surgery, you might jump to the conclusion that a machine is doing all the work, which isn’t the case at all. With robotic surgery, the “arms and hands” are robotic devices that our surgeon controls at all times.
The advantage here is that the robotic arms can translate the movements of his hands in small spaces and with an unprecedented degree of accuracy.
Our approach to your hysterectomy depends upon the extent of the procedure and whether we’re only removing your uterus or other organs, like your ovaries, as well. If it’s a simple hysterectomy, the odds are good that we’ll remove your uterus through your vagina.
If the procedure is more extensive, we may make 2-5 small incisions around your abdomen, typically near your belly button, through which we thread a high-definition, 3D camera and as specialized instruments.
In either case, our surgeon sits at a computer station in the operating room where they use a monitor to guide the instruments using computer aid for increased precision.
If you’d like to learn more about robot-assisted hysterectomies, please contact one of our offices in McAllen or Edinburg, Texas, to set up an appointment.
