5 notes on Brooke Army Medical Center’s first robotic-assisted pediatric surgery

Physicians at Brooke Army Medical Center in Houston performed robotic-assisted surgery on a two-year-old patient to remove a large cyst from his gall bladder, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

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Here are five notes:

 

1. Thomas Novak, MD, chief of pediatric urology, performed the surgery to remove the cyst.

 

2. Robotic-aided surgery was solely reserved for adults at BAMC for years prior to the recent procedure.

 

3. Pediatric robot-assisted surgery is not common throughout surgical centers in the United States, but there are practices who utilize the technology for pediatrics.

 

4. Robotic surgery offers a wealth of benefits including its ability to allow surgeons to be more agile in small places. It additionally is minimally invasive and offers a 3D high resolution magnification for enhanced views of the surgical site.

 

5. Army Major George Kallingal, MD, a urologic oncologist and Air Force Major, Michelle Marino, MD, a pediatric anesthesiologist, assisted Dr. Novak in the robot-assisted procedure. The cyst removal was successful.

 

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