Summa Health acquires latest in robotic surgery

In late July, members of the Summa Health Foundation Women’s Circle of Health Philanthropists and the Summa Health System Women’s Board got hands-on experience on the new da Vinci Xi Surgical System. Summa Health System-Akron Campus is the first hospital in Summit County to acquire the advanced technology and one of only 17 hospitals worldwide using a system that integrates the operating table with the robotic machine. The integration gives surgeons maximum flexibility and control in positioning patients during the procedure.

Left to right: Dr. G. Dante Roulette, obstetrician/gynecologist and chief of the Summa Health Robotic Surgery Program, with Ginger Marchetta and Jean Foust of the Summa Health Foundation Circle of Women’s Health Philanthropists.

The da Vinci Xi system will allow Summa Health to expand its capabilities in robotic surgery, building on a reputation that already includes national recognition for its gynecology program and its status as the first hospital in Ohio to perform colorectal surgeries robotically. With the da Vinci Xi system in place, Summa Health physicians soon will be using robotic technology for urologic procedures, hernia repair, thoracic procedures and trans oral robotic surgery (TORS), a procedure used on cancers of the head and neck, said Dante Roulette, MD, Summa Health chief of robotic surgery. Patients who undergo head and neck surgery, which can be disfiguring, come out of it without visible scars with TORS.

Other patient benefits of the da Vinci Xi system include less blood loss during surgery, less pain following surgery, quicker recovery and return to normal activities, less risk of infection and shorter hospital stay.

Members of Summa Health Foundation Women's Circle of Health Philanthropists view a demonstration of the da Vinci Xi Surgical System at Summa Health System-Akron Campus.