DAVID ROSENFELD

Dr. Vip Patel fully expected his family to move with him to Orlando from Columbus, Ohio in December. But when 10 members of his surgical team came along, it showed profound commitment to the man who leads the nation in prostatectomy robotic surgery.

Patel now serves as the medical director of Florida Hospital’s recently inaugurated Global Robotics Institute. The center specializes in minimally invasive treatments for prostate and gynecologic oncology patients using the Da Vinci Surgical System robot. It plans to expand its scope of practice in the near future.

Along with Patel’s credentials of performing more than 2,000 robotic prostatectomies – the most by any surgeon in the country – he authored two textbooks and edits the quarterly Journal of Robotic Surgery.

He also hosts the annual World Robotic Urology Symposium that will be held March 17-19 at the Disney Yacht Club Resort in Orlando. The symposium is expected to attract 400 surgeons from 50 different countries.

With Patel at its helm, Florida Hospital plans to make Orlando a global medical destination. “We provide the patient with the most experienced team in the world and the best outcomes in the world,” Patel said.

Among his many hats, Patel has been appointed as associate professor of urology for University of Central Florida’s College of Medicine, which will open in the fall of 2009. The institute plans to attract doctors internationally for training as well as medical school graduates. Patel has already trained more than 1,000 surgeons in robotic surgery.

“It’s a very challenging operation,” Patel said. “There will be a generation of urologists trained to do this.”

The robot that Patel uses is 8-feet-tall and costs between $1.3 million and $1.5 million. Made by Intuitive Surgical Inc., the Da Vinci is the only such surgical robot on the market, though other companies have products in development.

The Da Vinci robot has revolutionized surgical outcomes for prostate cancer. What used to involve a large incision across the abdomen now can be done using a series of small dot-like incisions. Using miniscule instruments controlled with remarkable precision, robotic surgery is far less invasive and rarely results in any blood loss.

Prostate cancer used to be thought of as a life-threatening illness, and surgery – just one of the methods to cure it – was wrought with complications. “Surgery would have a relatively long recovery period,” Patel said. “Now they go into the hospital knowing it will take about an hour with no blood transfusion.”

Also, the loss of sexual function used to be a huge drawback in about half of all patients who underwent surgery for prostate cancer. With the robot, more than 90 percent of all patients maintain their sexual function. “We’ve changed the balance,” Patel said, with a smile.

Since 2001 when the Food and Drug Administration approved the Da Vinci for use in surgery, the company has sold 795 systems worldwide, including 595 in the United States, 137 in Europe and 63 in the rest of world, said Nora Distefano, marketing specialist for Intuitive.

Along with Florida Hospital in Orlando, there are at least 21 training centers in the United States and two in Europe.

Last year 55,000 prostatectomies, roughly 60 percent of all such procedures, were performed using the Da Vinci. In 2005, 30,000 surgeries used the robot. This year, an estimated 90,000 robotic surgeries will occur.

Insurance companies are increasingly more inclined to pay for robotic surgery, where in the past it was often deemed experimental, said Distefano, whose company helps to appeal cases that are denied by insurers.

In 2005, United Healthcare changed its policy to cover robotic surgery. And in 2006, various BlueCross BlueShield plans came around. “The majority of claims brought to our attention were appealed and overturned,” Distefano said. “It’s becoming more and more a standard of care.”

For more information about the Global Robotics Institute, visit www.wrus.globalroboticsinstitute.com.



March 2008