One port, many benefits: Advanced urological robotic surgery

Since 2005, OSF HealthCare Little Company of Mary Medical Center has been performing multi-port robotic procedures. Now, the hospital is advancing to the next level of surgical innovation with the Intuitive Surgical Da Vinci Single-Port (SP) robot - a technology now available for urology patients at OSF Little Company of Mary.

“That’s going to change the way we do a lot of major urologic procedures. Instead of using multiple incisions, we use one or two incisions and get the job done that way,” says James Sylora, MD, urologist at OSF Little Company of Mary. “That should increase patient comfort and get them home earlier and back to work sooner.”

According to Dr. Sylora, the single-port robot will now be used for 90% of urologic procedures, such as surgeries to remove all (nephrectomy) or part of a kidney (partial nephrectomy). This is done primarily to treat kidney cancer. This can also be used for benign and reconstructive procedures.

The SP Robot allows the surgical team to access target organs in patients who have previously undergone surgery. Beforehand, scar tissue would have made it more difficult, Dr. Sylora says.

Most patients being treated with this technology have localized prostate cancer or small renal masses. In cases of renal cancer, the single-port robot helps preserve kidney function.

Thanks to this new approach, most patients can return home the same day as their procedure - a major improvement from previous procedures that required multiple days of hospital recovery. The need for pain medication has also dropped significantly.

“Several of the patients take a few Tylenol #3 or extra strength Tylenol as their post-operation pain medication. It’s quite remarkable,” Dr. Sylora says. “I wouldn’t have believed it until I started doing it. And sure enough, it’s true.”

The OSF Little Company of Mary team began using the single-port robot earlier this year and has already treated roughly a dozen patients with promising results.

“OSF has invested in having this new technology. They’re one of the only private hospitals across the country to have invested in this type of technology,” Dr. Sylora says. “They’re staying at the cutting-edge and we’re happy to provide this service.”

The Da Vinci SP system enables robotic-assisted surgery through a single incision, offering a streamlined and less invasive alternative for patients. Its specialized design, flexible instruments and enhanced vision support a new generation of surgical precision and recovery.