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YOUNG MOTHER IS CANCER FREE AFTER DA VINCI SURGERY AT BARNES-JEWISH WEST COUNTY HOSPITAL

From BJC TODAY, issued 20 August, 2012, written by Kelly Pahl, posted 08/21/2012

Sheena Gray, shown with her mother in the photo at left, wouldn’t have known she had kidney cancer had she not experienced an appendicitis attack.

A scan diagnosing her appendicitis showed a kidney tumor. But the 28-year-old mother of two from Breese, Ill., is cancer free after surgeons at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital (BJWCH) performed a partial nephrectomy with the da Vinci robot on July 11.

Barnes-Jewish Hospital has led the region in use of robotic surgical technology since 2007. BJWCH has been offering robotic surgery since 2010. Sam Bhayani, MD, Washington University urologist and chief medical officer at BJWCH, and his colleagues have pioneered use of the robot for kidney cancer surgery.

Rather than a major incision in traditional open surgeries, da Vinci technology allows for small incisions which are based on the robot’s arms, two of which hold surgical instruments while a third is a camera allowing a surgeon seated at a nearby computer console to see inside the body.

 While the patient lies on the operating room table, the surgeon controls the arms holding surgical instruments steady inside the body.

Pictured left are Dr Brian Benway and Dr Sam Bhayani, both Washington University urologists,  preparing to insert the surgical instruments at the end of the robot's arm into the patient, while Marsha Czech, CRNA, monitors her anesthesia.

Gray allowed National Geographic to film her surgery as a part of a television special on advancements in medicine, space and other areas to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the National Geographic Society.

“We are so pleased to be able to offer our community complex robotic surgery,” Dr. Bhayani says. “The technology is transforming our ability to treat patients.

Washington University surgeons at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital are using the robot for prostate cancer, kidney tumor removal, colorectal cancer, cholecystectomy, pelvic floor repair, and procedures on the esophagus and stomach. Future uses include pancreatic cancer removal and thoracic surgery, including lobectomy.  Barnes-Jewish Hospital also is expanding the use into colorectal cancers, head and neck cancers, the Whipple procedure for pancreatic cancer, and thoracic surgeries.
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