UCI Healthcare first in the West And California to Use DaVinci Robot for a Thyroidectomy

We can add one more procedure that is successful and applicable for robotic surgery, thyroid gland. This is amazing how they make an incision in the armpit so there is no scaring on the neck for the patient at all. Normally there’s a pretty good sized incision for this procedure. Also in the news UCI just received a grant from the NIH in regards to moving technology faster to the doctors and hospitals.

UCI Receives $20 Million Dollar Grant From NIH To Expedite Moving Scientific Discoveries to the Doctors Offices

Also happening at UCI is the first FDA approved treatment for spinal cord damage with stem cell therapy.

Stem Cell Research in the US – Focus on UCI Irvine With First FDA Approved Treatment for Spinal Cord Damage

If you have not seen how the DaVinci Robot works, take a look at the video below and there’s some nice music that makes it very interesting as this procedure the robot doing prostate removal. BD

UC Irvine Healthcare is the first medical center on the West Coast and the only one in California to perform robotic thyroidectomies, a procedure that removes the diseased gland without leaving a visible scar on the neck. Dr. Jason Kim, associate clinical professor of otolaryngology and a head and neck cancer specialist, has performed robotic-assisted surgery using the daVinci Surgical System on three patients with thyroid tumors.

"We're excited to be able to offer this kind of surgery to the Orange County community and beyond," Kim said. "Traditional 'open' surgery to remove the thyroid gland requires a three- to five-inch incision across the front of the neck, and other minimally invasive surgical techniques can reduce the scar to about one inch. But using the robot, we avoid the neck incision altogether by making a small, easily hidden cut in the patient's armpit. That opening provides access for the robot's arms, which then are maneuvered by the surgeon to the thyroid bed."

Surgery using the daVinci robot has been performed for years in heart, prostate and gynecologic conditions, but minimally invasive robotic thyroidectomies are new. The American Cancer Society estimates that about 38,000 cases of thyroid cancer alone in addition to other thyroid diseases will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2010, and it usually strikes people younger than 55.

UCI Healthcare first in the West to use robotic-assisted surgery for thyroid tumor