ST. LOUIS – At Mercy Hospital St. Louis, innovation always serves a higher purpose — improving lives. Equipped with the precision of robotic-assisted surgery, the Mercy team has helped thousands of patients recover faster and return home sooner. Continuing this tradition, Mercy Hospital St. Louis recently become the first health care facility in the area to offer the new da Vinci 5 Robotic Surgical System. This technology enables minimally invasive procedures in urology, gynecology, thoracic and general surgery with enhanced precision and efficiency.
“Technology changes quickly. Think of the original smartphone versus what you can get today,” said Dr. Gautum Agarwal, Mercy urologic oncology surgeon and director of Mercy’s Precision Medicine program. “The newest da Vinci, referred to as DV5, has many wonderful features to help our patients, but it also offers surgeons a more comfortable console for longer surgeries, gives real-time feedback and will enable us to upgrade as technology advances.”
Mercy St. Louis surgeons first debuted the original da Vinci Surgical System in 2003, upgrading over the years, and have now performed more than 16,000 procedures from the original to the latest version. This reflects not only excellence in advanced care but also Mercy’s dedication to embracing the most advanced tools that best serve its patients.
“We perform more robotic colorectal surgeries than any other practice in the area,” said Dr. Sekhar Dharmarajan, Mercy colorectal and oncologic surgeon and director of Mercy’s robotic surgery program. “Many patients are candidates for these procedures, which are minimally invasive and help speed recovery.”
Compared to traditional open surgery, Mercy St. Louis has seen recovery times reduced by more than a day on average. Since 2003, that translates to nearly 27,000 fewer days in the hospital for patients.
“Getting patients out of the hospital and back to doing what they love is our goal,” Dr. Dharmarajan said.
Advanced equipment like the DV5 benefit area patients thanks to the generosity of Mercy Health Foundation donors.
