Hallym University Chuncheon Sacred Heart Hospital

To commemorate the introduction of the
da Vinci Robotic Surgical System, Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital(KSHH) performed a live robotic myomectomy for the first time in the nation at its Michael Hall on September 19, 2007.

The live surgery was performed by Dr. Arnold P. Advincula, Professor of the University of Michigan Medical Center, a world-renowned gynecologic surgeon for robotic surgeries. Prior to the live surgery demonstration, a lecture on "Robotics and the Current State of Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery" was given at the same hall. Conversations among the doctors involved as well as the whole view of the surgery were carried live via a videoconference link between the operating room and the auditorium.

Dr. Advincula is the Director of Minimal Invasive Gynecologic Surgery, and the Chronic Pelvic Pain Program at the Division of Gynecology at the University of Michigan Medical Center. As a chief editor of the Journal of Robotic Surgery in the U.S., he won 'The Best Doctor Award in the USA' in 2005.

The patient who underwent the surgical operation was a 43-year old woman with two children. She had been advised to have a hysterectomy by doctors at other hospitals after being diagnosed with a seven-centimeter myoma in her uterus. However, she did not want to have her uterus removed, and consulted KSHH and agreed to undergo a robotic surgery. She felt less pain, and expected a minimal aftereffect and a faster recovery.

The da Vinci Surgical System enabled physicians to perform surgery in a manner never before experienced. The da Vinci System translates the surgeon's hand movements at the consol instrument controls into corresponding micro-movements of instruments positioned inside the patient. And it can provide the surgeon with better visualization, dexterity, precision and control than with open surgery, while enabling operation through 1-2 cm incisions.

The da Vinci Surgical System can be employed in operations in Urology(prostate cancer, bladder cancer, renal surgery), obstetrics and gynecology (cervical cancer, hysterectomy, myomectomy, tuboovarian tumor), general surgery(gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, rectal cancer, liver cancer, gallbladder cancer, biliary tract cancer), and cardiac surgery(lung cancer, esophageal cancer, coronary artery bypass).

As of the end of 2006, over 500 robots of the da Vinci Surgical System were adopted by U.S. hospitals, 150-odd robots were in operation in Europe, and more than 20 of them were in Asia. Five robots are now in operation in Korean hospitals: Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital, Severance Hospital, Yongdong Severance Hospital, Korea University Anam Hospital, and Asan Medical Center.