Published: January 31, 2006

OR-Live.com Presents: da Vinci Radical Hysterectomy for Cervical Cancer

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Live Webcast From UNC Hospitals: Wednesday, February 22, 2006, 4-5 PM EST

UNC School of Medicine will present a Webcast of a da Vinci® (robotic) Radical Hysterectomy, broadcast live from N.C. Women's Hospital at the University of North Carolina Hospitals, on February 22, 2006 at 4 PM (EST).

The minimally invasive procedure will be performed using the da Vinci Surgical System, and will include a radical hysterectomy with pelvic lymphadenectomy for the treatment of cervical cancer. Dr. John Boggess, Associate Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Fellowship Program Director, Division of Gynecologic Oncology at UNC School of Medicine will perform the procedure.

Dr. Boggess will use da Vinci (NASDAQ: ISRG), a breakthrough robotic system designed to transcend the limitations of both open surgery and laparoscopy, expanding the surgeon's capabilities and offering patients a minimally invasive option for many complex procedures. With da Vinci surgery, patients can experience significantly less pain, less blood loss, a much quicker recovery and faster return to normal daily activities.

According to Boggess, all of his initial series of seven consecutive patients receiving radical hysterectomies for cervix cancer went home from the hospital the day after the operation, compared to the typical three-day hospital stay after an open procedure.

"None of the patients required IV pain medication. They were all able to take a pain pill or two and felt fine. The average blood loss was about 100 cc -- one eighth of the published average blood loss for an open radical hysterectomy. All of these patients had rapid recoveries and returned to their normal lifestyles within a week," Boggess said.

In addition, "The operative time for the da Vinci cases was comparable to that of open procedures," he said. "It was a bit faster than times generally reported in the literature for doing the procedure laparoscopically," Boggess said.

"The margins -- which indicate whether we are removing all the cancerous tissue -- and the lymph node count, the second quantitative measure, are outstanding. All margins have been negative, and the lymph node count is dramatically higher than what is published in the literature. So there is absolutely no compromise in terms of the cancer operation. In fact, we believe this is a better cancer operation."

Boggess added, "The dexterity of the instruments and the visualization afforded by the 3D and the magnification means we are actually able to see things now with da Vinci that we normally don't see even with an open procedure."

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