North County hospital gets hi-tech da Vinci Surgical System

Encinitas CA— Scripps Health has expanded its Minimally Invasive Robotic Surgery Program to Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas, bringing the advances of the da Vinci Surgical System to the North County campus.

The first surgery using the technology at Scripps Encinitas was performed recently on a patient who needed a gynecologic oncology procedure.
“This really is science fiction come to life,” said Adam Fierer, M.D., who is the program’s clinical leader at Scripps Encinitas. “This technology takes us into an entirely new realm of the future of surgery, and it has long-term potential to improve our already high level of surgical quality.”
Robotic surgery offers a minimally invasive alternative to open surgery and improves the patient experience by reducing blood loss, lowering pain, accelerating recovery times and limiting complications. The system also can help to reduce many of the costs associated with open surgery procedures.
The da Vinci system is used in a wide range of procedures in gynecology, urology, thoracic, cardiac and general surgery, including hysterectomy, myomectomy, prostatectomy, colectomy, cholecystechtomy, mitral valve repair and hernia surgery.
Scripps Encinitas is now part of a patient-centered, physician-led robotic surgery program at Scripps Health that has completed nearly 10,000 procedures since its launch 11 years ago.
“Scripps is committed to bringing advanced minimally invasive surgery services to all of our patients throughout San Diego County,” said Carol Salem, M.D., medical director of the Scripps Minimally Invasive Robotic Surgery Program. “With this tremendous technology in our operating rooms, our highly skilled surgeons can offer precision robotics combined with personalized care.”
The robotics program expansion to Scripps Encinitas was made possible by generous philanthropic gifts from LaVerne and Blaine Briggs of Carlsbad, the Marriott Daughters Foundation and others.