Surrey Hospitals Foundation is raising money for a surgical robot that could make a world of difference for cancer patients south of the Fraser.
Dr. Alex Butskiy, head and neck surgical oncologist and reconstructive surgeon from Surrey Memorial Hospital, is excited that the state-of-the-art da Vinci Xi Robotic Surgical System will be coming to Surrey.
The only robotics surgical system in the Lower Mainland is at Vancouver General Hospital, and with a population of three million people, "they have a hard time keeping up," Butskiy said.
As a result, many of his patients with throat cancer end up getting radiation treatment instead.
"So having this at Surrey hospital, we have the Cancer Agency right there, so we can provide it as an alternative to radiation treatment to select patients in our region, so it's better capacity to allow patients to be treated closer to home."
The Regional Robotic Surgery Program will be established in addition to the da Vinci Xi Robotic Surgical System. The program will initially be dedicated to "ear, nose, throat (ENT) and thoracic (includes esophagus, lung and stomach) surgical specialties where the need is particularly urgent, however the program will expand to include more specialties in the future," reads a Surrey Hospitals Foundation release.
“Having the da Vinci Xi Robotic Surgical System will tremendously help us surgeons leverage the most innovative tools and technologies to perform more minimally invasive surgeries with precision to help save more lives,” Dr. Ahmad Ashrafi, regional division head and chief of thoracic surgery at Surrey Memorial, said. “We are elevating the standard of care here at Surrey Memorial Hospital, so we can attract and train more highly skilled physicians with the latest technological innovations and providing best-in-class patient-centered treatment options.”
Butskiy added that "This option of having cancer surgery with a robot means a lot of patients can avoid the radiation treatment that can be very harsh for the throat and the neck and can lead to secondary cancers.
"Also, we can also do surgeries better. Even for those patients for whom we're currently doing surgery, we can now do it with more precision and with a minimally invasive approach."
The recovery time for these surgeries is also faster as there is less "manipulation of tissues," which means patients can go home sooner.
Surgical robot is controlled by physician and assistant
"The way it works is that it has three to four robotic arms, depending on the surgery that you do, and they sit right where the patient is, and the robotic arms are remotely controlled by physician who's sitting at a console," Butskiy said. "The console has these 3D goggles, two joysticks and pedals, and the surgical arms that are sitting by the patient are operated by the surgeon who's sitting at this console."
"For the type of surgery that I do, it allows us to do surgery in a very, very narrow corridors for us," Butskiy said.
Butskiy said that, as head and neck surgical oncologist, if he has a patient with throat cancer that needs surgery he has to "make a big cut on the inside of the neck to get to the throat."
"But with a robot, you don't have to do that. With a robot, you basically go through the throat, and because it's small, angulating arms and the camera, you can get a excellent three-dimensional view of the inside of the throat without having to cut the patient open," Butskiy said.
Surrey Memorial Hospital is currently renovating one of its operating rooms to accommodate the robot and the console, as the current ones are too small.
Butskiy added that he is thankful for the foundation's support.
"I'm really grateful for the foundation for supporting Fraser Health and the robotics. Without them, we really wouldn't be able to bring the robot here, because it's very expensive, and I think it's just very expensive for the Province at Fraser Health alone. So the foundation played a key role for us," Butskiy said.
The foundation's 8th Celebration of Care Gala on Feb. 22 raised $1.53 million towards purchasing the $5.5-million da Vinci Xi Robotic Surgical System.
“Surrey Memorial is the regional hospital for more than one million residents living south of the Fraser and plays a vital role in serving the entire Fraser Health region, home to more than two million people.” Nicole Robson, president and CEO of Surrey Hospitals Foundation, said.
“As the only hospital in B.C. to receive top honours in surgical excellence from the American College of Surgeon's National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP), Surrey Memorial is already leading the way in patient outcomes. Bringing robotic-assisted surgery to our hospital is the next step in delivering the highest standard of care — enhancing surgical precision, improving recovery times, and ensuring that patients in our region have access to world-class treatment close to home. Philanthropy is making this possible, helping us continue to raise the bar for excellence in health care.”
For more information on this campaign, visit www.surreyhospitalsfoundation.com.
