Innovative Medical Technology Helps Make Rural Living Easier

By Linda Kor
   Living in rural country like the northeastern region of Arizona has many benefits, including open spaces and fresh air without the crowded urban sprawl of a city. Unfortunately, the price of those benefits is distance from certain things we may need or enjoy, including emergency medical facilities.
   With that thought in mind, facilities like Flagstaff Medical Center (FMC) have to take into consideration what type of treatment is best suited for individuals in rural areas when coming to a hospital for treatment can mean long, exhausting drives. Added to that is the possibility that patients may not return after surgery, believing that recovery is completed just as well at home when weighed against the long drive and time spent.
   As a result, the medical center is striving to present options for less intrusive surgeries that are quicker to heal and lessen the chance of infection.
   Holbrook resident Fred Alvarez was the beneficiary of one of those procedures last January when he was told he had to have heart bypass surgery, which would traditionally involve cutting through the breastbone and spreading open the ribs for greater access to the heart cavity. It would have also meant a long recovery period, as well as numerous follow-up visits.
   Alvarez first learned about his heart condition in 2000. In that year and again in 2006, he had coronary stents inserted to increase blood flow to and from his heart.
   “The first stents really made a difference, but when I started having problems again, the new stents didn’t seem to help at all,” Alvarez recalled. Finally, in 2008, he was told that surgery was the only option left.
   “It was really a frightening thought, but I knew it had to happen,” said Alvarez, a retired Arizona Public Service Co. employee. But all of that changed one day when he was told that he was a candidate for a new procedure that would not involve cutting open the chest cavity.
   Alvarez was recommended to Dr. Steven Peterson of the Heart and Vascular Center of Northern Arizona, who would perform a new procedure utilizing the da Vinci Surgical System. This system allows a variety of complex surgeries to be less invasive because they are performed through tiny incisions rather than large, open incisions.
   This procedure results in less trauma to surrounding tissue, less pain for the patient, lower risk of infection, less blood loss, shorter recovery time and a quicker return to normal activities.
   What makes the procedure so fascinating is the way it’s conducted. The surgeon is seated at a digital console anywhere from five to 30 feet away from the patient while nurses and technicians remain at the patient’s side. The surgeon’s hand movements are scaled down to small, precise movements through the use of a micro-camera and micro-instruments within the operative site. The system cannot be programmed, nor can it make decisions on its own, meaning each movement of the instruments must be performed by the surgeon.
   Through a small incision, the camera provides an enlarged, three-dimensional view of the operative site. Two to three small incisions are made to allow the use of 360-degree rotational micro-instruments.
   The procedure may sound like laparoscopic surgery, but that technology only offers a one-dimensional view of the operative site and the instruments are unable to rotate as they do in the da Vinci system.
   Peterson is a cardiothoracic surgeon who has performed more than 4,000 open-heart procedures in his career, and FMC is very fortunate to have his expertise for the benefit of patients in the region. FMC is the only medical facility in northern and central Arizona to offer this advanced surgical technology.
   Since his surgery, Alvarez feels and looks terrific. “I was up and walking within 24 hours, and out of the hospital in four days,” he said.
   These days Alvarez feels like there’s very little he can’t do.
   “I recently finished putting up a chain link fence around my property and let me tell you, it’s hard work sinking that many post holes,” Alvarez said. “I don’t see any further problems with my heart.”
   While not everyone will be a candidate for the new technology, there are many who may be. The da Vinci system is used not only for cardiac procedures, but numerous others, such as general, bariatric, urology and gynecology procedures.