As any student of painting will tell you, Leonardo da Vinci used amazingly accurate anatomical shapes and stunning three-dimensional detail to bring his masterpieces to life.

Now, 500 years later, his namesake, the recently installed da Vinci® Surgical System at Ingham Regional Medical Center, helps skillful surgeons keep masterpieces (i.e., human beings) alive. The system consists of ergonomic surgeon’s console, a patient-side cart with four interactive robotic arms, a high-performance 3D HD vision system and proprietary EndoWrist^® instruments. If this all sounds a little high tech and out of da Vinci’s league, recall that in addition to painting, he also invented the first robot.

Here’s how the system works: A surgeon (who has received extensive instruction and has hands-on training with the device) sits at the console, peering through optics which give him a remarkably clear, high definition view of the surgical field (the patient’s heart and surrounding tissue, for instance). He places his fingers into controlling units and manipulates them to move the robotic arms on the patient cart with inhuman precision and control. The vision system provides the surgeon with a magnified view that, in addition to being high definition, is three dimensional and provides an immersed surgical experience for the person working the controls, and a less invasive operation for the person lying on the operating table.

Ingham’s president and CEO, Bob Wright, said, “The technology is not all that new. It was developed as an armed services application about 10 years ago. We were just waiting for the technology to mature.” Determining that it had, realizing that the demand for acquiring a da Vinci was there from a business point of view, and having its top surgeon, Dr. Douglas Pugmire, director of robotics, express the need for having a da Vinci to provide the level of care necessary for 21^st century patients, were the three main reasons Ingham decided to bring in the new system.

Wright said, “It’s the fastest implementation we’ve ever had. The decision was made on December 21, and we did our first procedure on January 14.”

During a January open house, Phyllis Jones, a registered nurse and a surgical clinical educator, explained that all the surgeons who will be using the da Vinci system have used earlier versions of the apparatus over the previous 12 to 18 months. Even though Ingham only found out that it would be receiving the da Vinci system in late December, Jones said, “knowing that the surgeons have experience, that they’ve already [worked] cases, that they do want to help the program get started… gives me a lot of confidence.”

Surgeons interested in using da Vinci first go through a screening process with the manufacturer, Intuitive Surgical, to see if they’re “da Vinci worthy.” If they are deemed to be, Intuitive will set them up for training. Jones explained, “They observe cases, they work on cadavers, they also get proctored in a certain number of cases before they can be deemed independent. And the training process for the open heart [surgeons] is even more rigorous.”

The da Vinci is designed for operations taking place anywhere on the torso, meaning that general, thoracic, open heart, and gynecological surgeons, along with others, are likely candidates to have the opportunity to train on the new system. With a number of surgeons already qualified to use it, Wright said da Vinci will not be lacking for patients. He also said that surgeons who begin using da Vinci will not necessarily go back and forth between robotic surgery and unassisted surgery.

Jones said that Ingham’s plan is to use the system five days a week. “People are in line to have these procedures done, and the patients are choosing the robotic-assisted surgery based on what they’re being told are the decreased complications and advancements in the surgery. It’s supposed to help with decreased length of stay, decreased pain, decreased complications, not taking out any more tissue than they need to, because they’re right there looking and seeing what they need to take out.”

Regarding the cost to patients, Wright said, “For ninety-five percent of the patients, there’s no difference in cost. It changes our cost,” but considering benefits such as “less blood loss and shorter length of stay,” using da Vinci makes good economic sense, too. With a price of about $1.5 million, the system is being leased by Ingham and went into full operation (so to speak) in late January.

The addition of Leonardo’s namesake makes Ingham’s Chi Heart & Surgery Center a “state-of-the-art O.R.,” according to Wright. And with additional private rooms, the center stands in good stead for providing patient care for years to come.

Asked what’s coming next for the hospital, Wright said, “We actually have completed planning for expansion on the Pennsylvania campus [formerly Lansing General].” The $2 million expansion will increase the number of operating rooms, and should be under way by spring, with a fall 2008 completion likely. Wright said building will take place “with the O.R. still operating.” Beyond that? “In five years, the five floors will be built out and we’ll be adding a sixth floor. Within 10 years, the Chi will be completed, [with] almost all private rooms at that point.”