Robotic-assisted surgeries are becoming a popular option for women needing a hysterectomy and the high-tech approach being performed right here in Reno is getting international recognition.
You could say Dr. Peter Lim has not just two hands, but four.
"So that is exactly how you want it to drive the needle. Like a natural movement."
He is one of the nation's leaders in physician-guided robotic surgery.
The stealth-like execution the robot is able to accomplish has been shown to give patients better outcomes and quicker recovery including Patricia Halstead.
She had a hysterectomy six weeks ago and was apprehensive to have it done using the high-tech robot, but the other option meant having a large incision across her stomach.
With the robot, there are only four incisions, each less than an inch around.
"I wasn't looking forward to having my whole stomach area cut open and it would have been a lot more pain, a lot more recovery so with just four small incisions it was able to heal up quick and the scaring is really minimal,” says Halstead.
Dr. Lim's gifted hands are getting widespread attention in the charge for women’s health.
He led a study with six other surgeons that investigated 32,000 benign hysterectomy cases and found that physician-guided robotic surgery is the most beneficial for non-cancerous hysterectomies.
"The robotic surgery had better outcomes, shorter hospitalization, and less complications…This study validates what I have believed all along."
Because one third of all U.S. women under 60 years old have a hysterectomy, Dr. Lim says the technology's ability to help a physician be as un-invasive as possible helps women through this all too common surgery.
"Because of the small scar, there's less pain, there's less scar and it allows the patient to recover much faster."
Halstead adds, "It's wearing but it passes quickly in comparison to what I anticipate would have happen had I had it done through a different procedure."
