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Peconic Bay Medical Center Performs First Robotic Single Site Gallbladder Surgery in Eastern Suffolk County

Peconic Bay Medical Center and the Peconic Bay Medical Center continuum, quickly growing its robotic surgery program, is the only hospital in eastern Suffolk County on Long Island offering robotic surgery and providing single-incision gallbladder removal. Gallbladder removal (cholecystectomy) is one of the most widely performed surgeries in the U.S. with approximately 1.2 million patients undergoing the procedure each year.

Nearly 250 robotic procedures have been performed at Peconic Bay Medical Center since robotic surgery began at the hospital in 2010, and with the continued expansion in specialty areas, the hospital recently acquired the newest robotic platform available—the da Vinci® Si Surgical System.

Robotic Surgeon, Agostino Cervone, MD, FACS, is performing Single-Site™ cholecystectomies using the da Vinci® Si Surgical System at Peconic Bay Medical Center. In addition to cholecystectomies, other robotic general surgery procedures performed at PBMC include colon, ventral hernia and hiatal hernia surgery. Minimally Invasive surgery, using Single-Site robotic instrumentation, requires a single small incision at the belly button offering less pain, blood loss and scarring as well as a shortened recovery procedures is exploding," says Dr. Cervone. "The ability to perform these procedures through a single site at the umbilicus advances an already evolving field of robotic surgery. What was initially limited to urology and gynecology, the use of robotic surgery has expanded into many surgical specialties."

During a robotic assisted cholecystectomy, the surgeon sits at a console viewing three dimensional, high-definition images of the surgical field while using controls below the display to guide robotics arms with attached surgical instruments. The system translates the surgeon's hand, wrist and finger movements into precise, real-time movements of surgical instruments inside the patient. This new procedure enables the surgeon to guide the flexible instruments through a single umbilical incision (less than an inch in length), to facilitate removal of the gallbladder. This is in contrast from the traditional laparoscopic procedure that requires four incisions.

"To have been the first community hospital in Suffolk County on Long Island to acquire the robot, and to now offer this technically advanced surgery, demonstrates Peconic Bay Medical Center's leadership and commitment to providing patients with the latest, minimally invasive surgical options," remarked Richard Kubiak, MD, Peconic Bay Medical Center's Chief Medical Officer.

Surgeons at Peconic Bay Medical Center currently utilize advanced minimally invasive surgical techniques such as the robotic surgical approach for the treatment of gynecologic and colorectal disorders, bladder and pelvic health issues, and urology. To learn more about Peconic Bay Medical Center's robotic surgery and other minimally invasive services, visit www.pbmchealth.org or call (631) 548-6000.