THE BOCA NEWS
ROBOT' SURGEON HAS ARRIVED AT WEST BOCA MEDICAL CENTER
Published Sunday, February 4, 2007
By Dale M. King

The newest “doctor” at West Boca Medical Center has a brain, but no heart; is totally outer-directed; is named for a famous inventor and cost $2 million.

And it’s worth every penny, say doctors, nurses and Hospital CEO Walt Mickens.

The doctor is actually a robot – The da Vinci® Surgical System, which can be used for gynecological, prostate and general surgery. The mechanical surgeon preserves the natural eye-hand-instrument alignment, depth of field and instrument control of an open procedure. And the system’s EndoWrist® instrument tips can rotate like the human wrist, allowing surgeons to perform complex dissection or reconstructive surgery in the closed chest, abdomen or pelvis.

It is named after Leonardo da Vinci, considered the inventor of the robot.

Mickens said West Boca Medical has the only daVinci robot in Palm Beach County. Not only that, three doctors at the hospital have already been trained on the apparatus.

In fact, Dr. Lanalee Sam, an attending physician in obstetrics and gynecology, recently performed a laparoscopic hysterectomy -- and she never had to get closer than six feet from her patient.

“The surgeon is at an instrument console,” Dr. Sam told the Boca Raton News. “Hats off to West Boca Medical Center and CEO Mickens for seeing the wave of the future.”