Robotic-Assisted Urologic Surgery

Robotic precision with an expert’s touch

With robotic surgery, your surgeon can perform even the most complex procedures with unmatched precision. Aurora BayCare’s state-of-the-art robotic surgery program has an experienced and highly trained team of surgeons, nurses, and technicians. Since initiating our robotic-assisted surgery program in 2008, Aurora BayCare urologists have performed hundreds of robotic-assisted procedures each year.  We use the da Vinci® Surgical System, a time-tested leading technology in the field of urinary health.

This operating robot combines the precision and accuracy of a machine with the judgment of an experienced surgeon.

Benefits in Robotic Surgery

Robotic surgery is the most technologically advanced and minimally invasive approach to complex surgical procedures available today. This leading-edge technology delivers unmatched precision, making it ideal for delicate and complex urologic surgeries.

The da Vinci Si and da Vinci Xi robot enables your surgeon to be more precise. Using this exacting tool, your surgeon can better target your condition while avoiding damage to surrounding nerves. Overall, robotic-assisted surgery offers several benefits over conventional procedures:

  • Faster recovery and shorter hospital stays
  • Greater surgical precision
  • Less bleeding
  • Less post operative pain and scarring
  • Less risk of infection
  • Quicker return to regular activity
  • Significantly smaller incision site
  • Equal cancer cure rate
  • Maximized potential for restoration of urinary control
  • Maximized potential for restoration of erectile function

Before the advent of surgical robots, urologic surgery was performed through large abdominal incisions. Later, technology provided the ability to use minimally-invasive laparoscopic techniques.  And while laparoscopy is a huge advance in surgical treatment, it can limit the surgeon’s range of motion. With robotic-assisted surgery, the robotic arms provide greater versatility and mobility, giving your surgeon greater freedom to move and greater control over the operation.

Robotic Surgery Procedures

When non-invasive treatment is not an option, robotic surgery is a high quality treatment alternative for many urogenital conditions and cancers of the kidney, bladder, and prostate.

  • Adrenal Gland Disorders: Adrenalectomy is the surgical removal of one or both adrenal glands. This treatment may be performed when tumors (malignant or benign) are present.  Occasionally, adrenalectomy may be recommended when hormones produced by the adrenal glands aggravate another condition such as breast cancer.  Robotic-assisted adrenalectomy is less invasive than either open or laparoscopic surgeries.
  • Kidney Cancer: Surgery is the primary treatment for kidney cancer.  In a robotic-assisted radical nephrectomy, the entire kidney is removed.  This is the most common surgical treatment for kidney cancer.  When the size and location of the tumor makes it possible to spare healthy kidney tissue and function, your urologist performs a partial nephrectomy.  Only the damaged part of the kidney is removed.  
  • Prostate Cancer: Prostatectomy surgical treatment involves the complete removal of the prostate.
  • Ureteropelvic Junction (UPJ) Obstruction: When the ureteropelvic junction (UPJ) becomes obstructed, urine cannot flow freely in the ureter.  This causes pressure on the kidney and can lead to kidney damage or failure. In a surgical technique called pyeloplasty, your surgeon removes the damaged part of your ureter and sews the healthy ends together to recreate the ureter tube. 

Robotic-assisted surgery is also commonly used to treat gynecological issues and a variety of general surgery procedures.