Florida Hospital Teaches Doctors about Robotic Surgery

Florida Hospital Uses 3-D Technology to Teach Hundreds of Doctors about Robotic Surgery

World Robotic Symposium is hosted by two Florida Hospital world-renowned robotic surgeons

ORLANDO, Fla., April 13, 2010 - 3-D movie technology moves from the theater to the operating room as nearly 1,000 physicians from across the country converge on Central Florida to learn how to perform robotic surgery.  During the World Robotic Symposium, held April 11-14, doctors donned 3-D glasses and watched the latest developments in robotic surgery.  The robotic hysterectomy they viewed was filmed with similar technology to that used in popular 3-D movies such as "Avatar". 

Dr. Vipul Patel and Dr. Arnold Advincula, with Florida Hospital's Global Robotics Institute, are the featured presenters at the symposium.  Other nationally recognized robotic surgeons will also be presenting at the conference.  Dr. Patel is one of the world's most accomplished robotic surgeons, performing more than 3,500 robotic prostatectomies (minimally invasive removal of the prostate). 

"The World Robotic Symposium is known as the how-to meeting," said Dr. Patel.  "It is very technically advanced, so a surgeon will be able to leave here and be a better surgeon and get better outcomes for their patients."

Dr. Advincula is a highly recognized robotic gynecological surgeon who has been performing robotic surgeries on the daVinci robot for 9 years.  Dr. Patel and Dr. Advincula have held separate robotic symposiums in the past and are now joining forces to educate physicians about this rapidly growing surgical technique.

"For doctors in the audience, it is hard to see the subtleties we are describing on the screen in two dimensions," said Dr. Advincula.  "By taking advantage of 3-D movie theater technology, like 'Avatar' or 'Clash of the Titans', it allows us to take our teaching to the next level."

Holding this type of conference in Central Florida continues to advance the goal of Orlando in becoming a medical destination.  It also pours money back into the local economy.  It is estimated the physicians that attend the conference will spend more than $1 million dollars in the Central Florida community while they learn the latest robotic surgical advances.

The Global Robotics Institute (GRI) at Florida Hospital, part of the Nicholson Center for Surgical Advancement, serves as a robotic surgery training site for physicians from around the world year round. Located at Florida Hospital Celebration Health and Florida Hospital Orlando, the GRI offers robotic surgeries for urological, gynecological oncology and benign gynecological patients.  The GRI will also be expanding to include other surgical specialties.

For more information, contact Florida Hospital Media Relations at 407-303-8217.

www.floridahospitalnews.com

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