Robot, surgeons team up

Surgeons at Oroville Hospital performed their first cholecystectomy using the facility’s new da Vinci robotic-surgery system.

Using the da Vinci’s high-tech three-dimensional visualization system, surgeons removed a patient’s gallbladder through a one-inch incision in the belly button, according to an Oroville Hospital press release. Such surgeries take about an hour—with a hospital stay of less than 24 hours—and result in minimal pain, scarring and blood loss. Oroville Hospital surgeon Randell Skau is one of a handful of physicians in the country trained to perform da Vinci cholecystectomies.

“Neither robotic surgery nor single-incision surgery is new, but combining the two to remove a gallbladder requires additional training and special equipment,” Skau said.