Doctors from Good Samaritan Hospital showed off a precision robot made by Sunnyvale-based Intuitive Surgical called “the da Vinci Xi” at a networking mixer hosted by the Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce, Feb. 15.
For the evening presentation at Best Western Inn of Los Gatos, Dr. Kristine Borrison and Dr. Richard Nguyen demonstrated how the high-tech tool can easily pick up a penny or rubber band with its tweezer-like metal claws.
Nguyen said the robot allows doctors at Good Samaritan “to do really highly advanced procedures through very small incisions” that are minimally invasively, provide faster recovery times and less pain after surgeries.
“The takeaway is that here—right here in Los Gatos, at our local hospital—we have all the capabilities with the new technology and the most skilled surgeons that can provide a high level of care,” Nguyen said. “We’re doing very high-level procedures that are very uncommon in other places.”
Nguyen said the doctors at Good Samaritan have been using the da Vinci Xi in real operations since 2013. He’s personally been using it since 2008, he added.
“We’ve used this robot as well as other generations of this robot for over 10 years in the hospitals now,” Nguyen said. “So currently, actively, I’m using this exact model over at Good Samaritan—as well as El Camino Los Gatos hospitals.”
Borrison said turning to robotics was a way of improving the quality of care for residents of Los Gatos and the surrounding area.
“We wanted to really highlight that we have state-of-the-art technology in the community, we have well-renowned physicians and that we’re trying to keep as much of our healthcare in the community,” she said.
