Robotic arm surgeries are available in Dr. P. Phillips Hospital

Dr. P. Phillips Hospital has a new state-of-the-art robot that will help the hospital’s ability to perform minimally invasive surgeries. 

On Monday, June 23, Luke Elms, a general surgeon at the Orlando Health hospital demonstrated how this new robotic arm works, showcasing its capabilities. 

This robotic arm is the third one at Dr. P. Phillips Hospital but with new specs and smaller in size. 

 “Here at Dr. Phillips Hospital we have been using them extensively so it was time to offer a third,” Elms said. “We’re always looking to bring a lot of these complex surgeries closer to home. So this allows us to bring in more complex surgery, state-of-the-art surgery, the type of surgery that you can get at the biggest institutions here locally to Dr. Phillips to keep these patients close to their families, close to their social support system and really allow them to have access to the latest technology here.” 

According to Elms, the robotic arm is able to create smaller incisions compared to regular surgery and it also supports a faster and smoother recovery for patients while maintaining sterility. 

Elms has performed more than 1,000 surgeries using the surgical robotic arms and plans to continue using the robots for future surgeries. 

It can be used across multiple specialties, like general surgery, gynecology, oncology, urology and more. 

According to Orlando Health, “Robotic surgery offers surgeons the advantages of minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery with the added benefits of more precise instruments, increased vision and total control of more aspects of the operation.” 

With the master control, surgeons are able to control the arms and its movements, while also having better visuals as the camera attached to the robotic arm is more stable than a member of the team holding it. It allows surgeons to have more control because they don’t have to rely on assistants to hold things as they are controlling all the instruments independently.

 “(The robot’s camera is) 4K, so you can really get in and see the individual fibers,” Elms said. “This allows even better visualization and allows us to really see closer and allows us to be pretty much in the body in its natural environment. When you’re operating open, you’re having to look around corners and things like that, and this really allows that ‘cause it’s also a 30-degree camera, which allows us to look around the corner.”

Elms also said the robotic arm can allow doctors and staff to do more with their time, as less staff is required to be in the operating room. He also said it can extend a surgeon’s career, as it has more controlled movements than humans, overriding the aging process and all it comes with it. 

“It does take away a lot of the essential tremor,” Elms said. “It can really extend the surgeon’s career in multiple ways. One, it can help with that kind of shaking, but it can also allow people to be more ergonomic.  It’s a shame to lose all that knowledge and all that wealth of experience we can give patients just because of the natural aging process.” 

He said it’s good to note he always is a few feet away from the surgical table, as that is the biggest concern for patients. 

“ It’s always key to understand that the robot is just an extension of us,” Elms said. “There’s nothing autonomous about this current situation; I’m controlling all the movements. It just allows me to be able to make movements that humans would have a hard time making with the fine motor skills or anything like that.” 

 Elms said there aren’t many challenges that come with using the machine, aside from learning how to utilize it. 

“The challenges that you can encounter robotically are kind of a good challenge to have and that is that it has allowed us to really progress our skills to a point,” Elms said. “ The types of surgery that we’re doing are becoming more and more complex and more and more challenging in general. So we’re always pushing the boundaries to try and get the best results because we know for a fact, based on years and years of research that minimally invasive approaches are much easier to recover.” 

With the addition of the third robotic arm to the Dr. P. Phillips Hospital, surgeons and staff members hope it’ll allow people to have access to a form of surgery that’s minimally invasive and easy to recover from, unlike open surgeries. 

 “Our overall goal is to get people back to their normal functioning as fast as possible,” Elms said.