How it Works

Robotic-assisted surgery utilizes technology that allows the surgeon’s hand movements to be translated into smaller, precise movements of tiny instruments inside the patient’s body. 

Robotic surgery performed at Orlando Health facilities utilizes the da Vinci® Surgical System. In 2000, the da Vinci Surgical System became the first robotic-assisted surgical system cleared by the Food and Drug Administration for laparoscopic surgery.

During a robotic surgical procedure, the surgeon sits at a console controlling the instruments while viewing a high-definition, 3D image of the patient’s targeted area inside the body through a laparoscope — a thin tube equipped with a tiny camera and a light at the end of the camera. The surgeon’s hand, wrist and finger movements made at the console are translated into precise, real-time movement of surgical instruments attached to three or four robotic arms.

The wristed instruments bend and rotate at a greater degree than the human hand. The intricate precision made possible through the robotic instruments allows for complex surgeries to be performed through just a few small incisions. The console’s computers track the hand movements, digitizing the information and enabling extraordinary surgical accuracy. An assisting surgeon remains at the patient’s bedside to re-adjust the instruments and camera as needed.

Unsurpassed Expertise

Robotic surgeries done at Orlando Health facilities are performed by highly trained teams of surgeons from different specialties, surgical techs, surgical assistants and physician assistants. Each team receives in-depth training on the da Vinci Surgical System with the same team members working together regularly to maintain the highest level of surgical excellence and patient outcomes. Many of our robotic surgery centers are led by world renowned experts in the field and serve as da Vinci training epicenters, where doctors from across the country come to train in robotic procedures and learn from our techniques. All of the robotic surgery rooms at Orlando Health are equipped with dual consoles (as shown above) to allow an experienced epicenter surgeon to oversee and assist another surgeon as needed.  

Orlando Health is one of the few facilities in the world to have in one place expert surgeons and epicenters in multiple specialties including urology, gynecology, thoracic (lung) surgery, bariatric (obesity) surgery, colorectal surgery and general surgery, which means you can trust Orlando Health for the best in minimally invasive robotic surgery.