A wide variety of benign (non-cancerous) conditions can affect a woman's reproduc-tive system, which consists of the uterus, the vagina, ovaries and fallopian tubes. Most of these conditions affect the uterus, which is the hollow, muscular organ that holds a baby as it grows inside a pregnant woman. Common types of gynecologic conditions like fibroids (non-cancerous growths in the uterine wall), endometriosis (non-cancerous growths of the uterine lining) or prolapse (falling or slipping of the uterus) can cause chronic pain and heavy bleeding, as well as other disabling symptoms. Women who experience these symptoms are often treated with hysterectomy - the surgical removal of the uterus. In fact, this procedure is the second most common surgical proce-dure for women in the United States, and an estimated one third of all U.S. women will have a hysterectomy by age 60.
Your doctor might recommend a hysterectomy to treat your condition. Hysterectomy can sometimes be performed through the vagina. However, when the uterus is large or if you have internal scarring from prior surgery or other conditions, abdominal hysterectomy is usually performed. Traditionally, abdominal hysterectomies are performed with open surgery, which requires a wide incision below the navel. This procedure can be painful, involving heavy pain medications, risk of infection and significant blood loss. After surgery, a long recovery (often 6 weeks) is necessary. In addition, many patients are not happy with the scar left by the incision.
| Open Surgery Incision |
da Vinci
Hysterectomy
Incisions |
If your doctor recommends surgery for a benign gynecologic condition, you may be a candidate for a minimally invasive approach: da Vinci Hysterectomy.
da Vinci Surgery uses state-of-the-art technology to help your doctor perform a more precise operation than conventional instrumentation allows. It offers numerous potential benefits over a conventional open surgery, including:
- Significantly less pain
- Less blood loss
- Fewer transfusions
- Less risk of infection
- Less scarring
- Shorter hospital stay
- Shorter recovery time
- Better clinical outcomes, in many cases
da Vinci Surgery for Hysterectomy incorporates the best techniques of open surgery and applies them to a robotic-assisted, minimally invasive approach.
The precision and dexterity afforded by the da Vinci Surgical System's advanced instrumentation facilitates a minimally invasive approach for treating benign gynecologic conditions.
As with any surgery, these benefits cannot be guaranteed, as surgery is patient and procedure specific.
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