The New da Vinci Si Surgical System

For patients suffering from pelvic prolapse, we want you to know that the condition is more common than women may think. Prolapse, which often results from childbirth, may affect as many as 30 percent to 50 percent of all women at some point in their lives. For the many women who have endured the painful condition, da Vinci Surgery® for Prolapse offers long overdue relief. The minimally invasive da Vinci® surgical procedure can repair pelvic prolapse and eliminate the discomfort of prolapse symptoms. With the robot-assisted da Vinci® Surgery for Prolapse, women experience superior outcomes, shorter hospital stays and minimal downtime. Prolapse repair using the minimally invasive da Vinci Surgical System® allows you to stop putting your life on hold for pelvic prolapse.

Prolapse, meaning “to fall,” occurs when the tissues that hold pelvic organs weaken. More than one pelvic organ can prolapse at the same time–this includes the bladder, urethra, uterus, rectum, bowel and the top of the vagina after hysterectomy. When tissues are weakened, it can cause those organs to bulge, or prolapse, into the vagina and sometimes past the vaginal opening. Though pelvic prolapse may affect as many as half of all women, it is the severity of symptoms that determines the necessity of prolapse repair surgery. The most frequently seen symptoms can include difficulty urinating or defecating and discomfort or pain during sex. If your gynecologist recommends prolapse repair surgery, there has never been a brighter prognosis. Now for those patients, the robot-assisted da Vinci® Surgery for Prolapse provides the most effective and least invasive solution ever available.

Women with mild cases of pelvic prolapse may have no noticeable symptoms. However, as the uterus falls further out of position, it can place pressure on other pelvic organs—such as the bladder or bowel—causing a variety of symptoms, including:

Symptoms may worsen with prolonged standing or walking due to added pressure placed on the pelvic muscles by gravity.

Dr. Maryann Prewitt, MD, FACOG is among an elite group of robotic surgeons holding Master’s Certifications in the da Vinci® Surgical System. Prewitt has da Vinci® surgical privileges at Forest Park Medical Center in Dallas, Texas as well as Baylor Frisco Medical Center in Frisco, Texas.

Thanks to a breakthrough surgical innovation, there is a new category of minimally invasive surgery for which you may be a candidate. The robot-assisted da Vinci® Surgical System is known as an ‘enabling’ technology—this means that your surgeon’s capabilities are dramatically enhanced. Though it is often called a ‘robot,’ da Vinci® cannot act on its own. Instead, the procedure is performed entirely by your doctor guiding the robotic device.  da Vinci® technology empowers your surgeon to make more precise movements with much smaller instruments—all performed inside your body.

“da Vinci® technology represents a new era of surgical care heralding near scar-less surgery” ~Dr.  Maryann Prewitt

For patients, this means the tiniest of incisions, minimal scarring and vastly superior outcomes no matter how complex your condition. Imagine having the benefits of a surgery but with significantly less pain, a shorter hospital stay, faster return to normal daily activities – as well as the potential for better clinical outcomes. In tandem with the da Vinci® Surgical System, surgeons like Dallas-area Dr. Maryann Prewitt and hospitals like Dallas’ Forest Park Medical Center are transforming standards for surgical care… Now, your surgeon is enabled to exactly fit your needs and then retract.

Dr. Maryann Prewitt is among an elite group of Texas surgeons holding Master’s Certifications in the da Vinci® Surgical System.  Dr. Prewitt has da Vinci® surgical privileges at Forest Park Medical Center in Dallas, Texas as well as the prestigious Baylor Frisco, Medical Center in Frisco, Texas.

Medical Writing by Amy E. Shoultz, Ph.D. in concert with Dr. Maryann Prewitt, M.D., FACOG

“You don’t want your options limited by your surgeon’s limitations.”

~Dr. Maryann Prewitt~

Dr. Maryann Prewitt trained at one of the most prestigious da Vinci® Surgical System facilities in the country setting her apart in the evolving field of minimally invasive surgery.  During her attendance at the Minimally Invasive Program at Florida’s Center of Minimally Invasive Surgery, Celebration Station, near Epcot Center, Prewitt excelled as a surgeon. Dr. Maryann Prewitt honed her da Vinci® craft, training under the direction of robotic surgery pioneer Dr. Arnold Advincula, MD, FACOG, Medical Director of Gynecologic Robotic Surgery Program at Florida Hospital.  A mentor and inspiration to Prewitt, Dr. Advincula has consistently been ranked as one of the “Best Doctors in America” and one of the “Top 100 Health Professionals” in 2007 and 2008.

Dr. Maryann Prewitt has performed more than two hundred robot-assisted procedures in the last two years alone and she continues to build upon her successful repertoire. Prewitt has da Vinci® surgical privileges at Forest Park Medical Center in Dallas, Texas as well as the prestigious Baylor Frisco, Medical Center in Frisco, Texas. When choosing your surgeon, experience is not optional.

If you’re a woman chances are that you, or someone who you know, have had uterine fibroids. Almost one quarter of all women will experience fibroids at some time.  Fibroids are benign, non-cancerous, masses that can grow underneath the uterine lining, inside the uterine wall, or outside the uterus. While many women do not feel any symptoms at all, some patients suffer severe from severe complications and pain. Fibroids can cause excessive menstrual bleeding, also called menorrhagia, abnormal periods, uterine bleeding, pain, discomfort, frequent urination and infertility. The minimally invasive robot-assisted da Vinci® Surgical System is the most advanced surgical option available for the treatment of fibroids today.

While hysterectomy is a proven way to resolve fibroids, it may not be the best surgical treatment for every woman. The minimally invasive robot-assisted da Vinci® Surgical System offers patients options never before available.  This is especially good news for women who, for example, may hope to later become pregnant. Your da Vinci® Surgeon now has alternatives to hysterectomy like myomectomy. Myomectomy is a uterine-preserving procedure performed to remove uterine fibroids.

Types of Myomectomy

Each year, roughly 65,000 myomectomies are performed in the U.S. The conventional approach to myomectomy is open surgery, through a large abdominal incision. After cutting around and removing each uterine fibroid, the surgeon must carefully repair the uterine wall to minimize potential uterine bleeding, infection and scarring. Proper repair is also critical to reducing the risk of uterine rupture during future pregnancies. Menorrhagia is extensive menstrual bleeding.

A new category of minimally invasive myomectomy, da Vinci^® Myomectomy, combines the best of open and laparoscopic surgery. With the assistance of the da Vinci Surgical System – the latest evolution in robotics technology – surgeons may remove uterine fibroids through small incisions with unmatched precision and control.

Dr. Maryann Prewitt is among an elite group of Texas surgeons holding Master’s Certifications in the da Vinci® Surgical System.  Prewitt has da Vinci® surgical privileges at Forest Park Medical Center in Dallas, Texas as well as the prestigious Baylor Frisco, Medical Center in Frisco, Texas.

A new category of minimally invasive myomectomy, da Vinci ® Myomectomy, combines the best of open and laparoscopic surgery. With the assistance of the da Vinci Surgical System — the latest evolution in robotics technology — surgeons can remove uterine fibroids through small incisions with unmatched precision and control.

Among the potential benefits of da Vinci Myomectomy as compared to traditional open abdominal surgery are:

• Opportunity for future pregnancy
• Significantly less pain
• Less blood loss
• Fewer complications
• Less scarring
• A shorter hospital stay
• A faster return to normal daily activities

da Vinci Myomectomy is performed with the da Vinci _®Surgical System, which allows your surgeon to perform a minimally invasive, yet remarkably precise, comprehensive reconstruction of the uterine wall, regardless of the size or location of your fibroids. The unique level of control and precision of da Vinci can also help your surgeon provide the most precise and thorough reconstruction possible. That can help to prevent a possible uterine rupture (tearing) during future pregnancies.

As with any surgery, these benefits cannot be guaranteed, as surgery is unique to each patient and procedure. While myomectomy performed using the da VinciSurgical System is considered safe and effective, this procedure may not be appropriate for every individual. Always ask your doctor about all treatment options, as well as their risks and benefits.

Robot-asisted Oophorectomy offers numerous potential benefits over traditional approaches to vaginal, laparoscopic or open abdominal Oophorectomy, particularly when performing more challenging procedures for benign gynecologic conditions. Potential benefits include:

• Significantly less pain
• Less blood loss
• Fewer complications
• Less scarring
• A shorter hospital stay
• A faster return to normal daily activities

Moreover, robot-assisted surgery provides the surgeon with a superior tool for the removal of benign masses, as compared to traditional open or minimally invasive laparoscopic approaches. da Vinci® Oophorectomy also allows your surgeon superior, 3-dimensional visualization of anatomy, which is especially critical when working around delicate and confined structures like the bladder. This means that your doctor has a distinct advantage when performing a Oophorectomy involving adhesions from prior pelvic surgery or an abdominal hysterectomy.

As with any surgery, these benefits cannot be guaranteed, as surgery is both patient- and procedure-specific. While Oophorectomy performed using the minimally invasive da Vinci® Surgical System is considered safe and effective, these procedures may not be appropriate for every individual. Always consult your physician about all treatment options, as well as their risks and benefits.

Dr. Maryann Prewitt is among an elite group of Texas surgeons holding Master’s Certifications in the da Vinci® Surgical System.  Prewitt has da Vinci® surgical privileges at Forest Park Medical Center in Dallas, Texas as well as the prestigious Baylor Frisco, Medical Center in Frisco, Texas.

Your future is health with the next generation of surgical care

Thanks to the latest evolution in surgical and robotics technologies, there is now an effective alternative to the traditional hysterectomy.  For decades, hysterectomies required a long hospital stay, lengthy recovery, significant pain and scarring.  Doctors performed what is known as an ‘open surgery’ requiring a large wide abdominal incision below the navel.  This traditional approach necessitated a long recovery (as much as six weeks), heavy medications, serious risk of infection and blood loss.  Hysterectomies were once traumatic for both patients and their families… Now, the future looks bright.

The minimally invasive robot-assisted da Vinci® Surgical System allows surgeons to operate using only 1- to 2-centimeter incisions, but with greater precision and control than ever before, minimizing the pain and risk associated with large incisions while increasing the likelihood of a fast recovery and excellent clinical outcomes.

Dr. Maryann Prewitt is among an elite group of Texas surgeons holding Master’s Certifications in the da Vinci® Surgical System.  Prewitt has da Vinci® surgical privileges at Forest Park Medical Center in Dallas, Texas as well as the prestigious Baylor Frisco, Medical Center in Frisco, Texas.

‘Prolapse’ is a term that for many women is associated with embarrassment or shame.  With no good reason, as the term prolapse simply means “falling” and is more common than most patients think.  In fact, more than 120,000 women have surgery for uterine and vaginal vault prolapse each year in the United States. Prolapse of any pelvic floor organs (vagina, uterus, bladder or rectum) occurs when the connective tissues or muscles in the body cavity are too weak hold the pelvis in its natural position.

This weakening of tissues has a number of causes and accelerates with age, after childbirth, with weight gain and strenuous physical labor.  All of these are perfectly normal conditions that, in the past, women had no choice but to endure.  Women with pelvic organ prolapse typically have problems with urinary incontinence, vaginal ulceration, sexual dysfunction and/or having a bowel movement.  Advances in minimally invasive robotic surgery offer long overdue relief.  Thanks to the da Vinci® Sacrocolpopexy, patients no longer have to suffer from prolapse in silence.

Prolapse no longer means a lapse in your life

Sacrocolpopexy is a procedure to surgically correct vaginal vault prolapse where mesh is used to hold the vagina in the correct anatomical position. This procedure can also be performed following a hysterectomy to treat uterine prolapse to provide long-term support of the vagina.

If your doctor recommends sacrocolpopexy, you may be a candidate for a new surgical procedure called da Vinci® Sacrocolpopexy. This procedure uses a state-of-the-art surgical system designed to help your surgeon perform a minimally invasive surgery through small incisions.

For most women, da Vinci® Sacrocolpopexy offers numerous potential benefits over a traditional open approach:

• Significantly less pain
• Less blood loss and need for transfusions
• Less risk of infection
• Less scarring
• Shorter hospital stay
• Shorter recovery time
• Quicker return to normal activities

Dr. Maryann Prewitt is among an elite group of Texas surgeons holding Master’s Certifications in the da Vinci® Surgical System.  Prewitt has da Vinci® surgical privileges at Forest Park Medical Center in Dallas, Texas as well as the prestigious Baylor Frisco, Medical Center in Frisco, Texas.

Your future is health with the next generation of surgical care

Thanks to the latest evolution in surgical and robotics technologies, there is now an effective alternative to the traditional hysterectomy.  For decades, hysterectomies required a long hospital stay, lengthy recovery, significant pain and scarring.  Doctors performed what is known as an ‘open surgery’ requiring a large wide abdominal incision below the navel.  This traditional approach necessitated a long recovery (as much as six weeks), heavy medications, serious risk of infection and blood loss.  Hysterectomies were once traumatic for both patients and their families… Now, the future looks bright.

The minimally invasive robot-assisted da Vinci® Surgical System allows surgeons to operate using only 1- to 2-centimeter incisions, but with greater precision and control than ever before, minimizing the pain and risk associated with large incisions while increasing the likelihood of a fast recovery and excellent clinical outcomes.

Dr. Maryann Prewitt is among an elite group of Texas surgeons holding Master’s Certifications in the da Vinci® Surgical System.  Prewitt has da Vinci® surgical privileges at Forest Park Medical Center in Dallas, Texas as well as the prestigious Baylor Frisco, Medical Center in Frisco, Texas.