OR-Live Presents: The Road to Recovery From Prostate Cancer Begins in the OR

Market Wire, July, 2008

The Mount Sinai Medical Center and Intuitive Surgical, Inc. will present a live webcast on OR-Live.com featuring David B. Samadi, M.D. , Chief of Robotics and Minimal Invasive Surgery in the Department of Urology at Mount Sinai on August 13 at 5:00pm ET. Dr. Samadi will narrate case video of a robotic radical prostatectomy utilizing the da Vinci S HD Surgical System and conduct a live question and answer session with viewers on the efficacy of open, laparoscopic, and robotic prostate surgeries . Dr. Simon Hall, Chair of the Department of Urology and Director of the Barbara and Maurice A. Deane Prostate Health and Research Center at Mount Sinai, will be on the panel as well.

"As a surgeon, robotic surgery allows me to remove prostate cancer from patients and restore their quality of life," said Dr. Samadi. "Instead of two to three days of hospitalization and two months of recuperation typical with open prostate surgery, robotic surgery patients often go home the next day and resume normal activities within two weeks."

During the webcast, Dr. Samadi will discuss the benefits of a robotic-assisted prostatectomy as it compares to open and laparoscopic surgical procedures. Robotic prostate surgery is driven by highly magnified visual enhancement technology in a bloodless field. The result is greater precision in cutting and suturing with far less trauma to surrounding tissue, delicate nerve sparing, minimal blood loss, less risk of infection, and faster recovery. Patients experience improved clinical outcomes and control over their bladder and sexual functions.

Dr. Hall specializes in urologic oncology and open surgical techniques, and collaborates with Dr. Samadi on the treatment of prostate cancer for many of his patients.

"I have seen the number of robotic prostatectomies increase among our patient population over the past couple of years and the benefits are quite clear," shared Dr. Hall. "These surgeries result in fewer immediate complications and quicker recovery than in an open procedure, especially in the hands of a skilled surgeon who performs a high volume of cases routinely."

The Procedure

Dr. Samadi's robotic prostatectomy technique is the result of his surgical evolution -- moving from open surgery to laparoscopy and finally to robotic surgery over the past eight years. Instead of making an 8" to 10" incision to remove a 2" prostate gland, Dr. Samadi's robotic prostate surgery involves just five small "keyhole" incisions in the patient's abdomen, through which extremely fine instruments are inserted along with a miniscule camera that displays magnified two-dimensional images from inside the body onto a screen. The addition of a sophisticated da Vinci system transforms those images into 3D, enabling the surgeon's hand movements to be scaled, filtered, and incredibly precise. This eliminates the touch factor or tactile feedback necessary to perform open surgery.

During the webcast, Dr. Samadi will highlight his unique advanced surgical techniques in performing a da Vinci Prostatectomy utilizing the latest technology -- the 4-arm da Vinci S Surgical System with high-definition 3D vision. The fourth robotic arm helps the surgeon by providing retraction to increase exposure of structures in the operative field and facilitates dissection by providing traction at the surgeon's control.

Surgeon Experience

Dr. Samadi is a board-certified urologic surgeon trained in open, laparoscopic, and robotic surgery and one of the world's most experienced da Vinci surgeons with a high track record of success. He is one of the only surgeons in the country to have completed two fellowships: one in oncology (trained at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York) and the other in laparoscopy (trained at Henri Mondor Hospital in France).

Dr. Samadi has completed more than 1,350 da Vinci cases in his career and since his arrival at Mount Sinai a year ago, he has performed nearly 550 robotic cases. Dr. Samadi's robotic surgery program at Mount Sinai is unique for its ability to combine the advanced technology of robotics with the expertise of open and laparoscopic skills. For the series of surgeries performed at Mount Sinai, Dr. Samadi's patients experienced an average blood loss of 63cc for the series with a T2 positive margin of 7%. Eighty-five percent of his patients were able to wear one surgical pad or less just three months after surgery. The average length of hospital stay was one day with minimal complications and positive outcomes.

This program is paid for by Intuitive Surgical, manufacturer of the da Vinci S HD Surgical System.

About The Mount Sinai Medical Center

The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The Mount Sinai Hospital is one of the nation's oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. Founded in 1852, Mount Sinai today is a 1,406-bed tertiary-care teaching facility that is internationally acclaimed for excellence in clinical care. Last year, nearly 50,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients, and there were nearly 450,000 outpatient visits to the Medical Center. Mount Sinai School of Medicine is internationally recognized as a leader in groundbreaking clinical and basic-science research, as well as having an innovative approach to medical education. With a faculty of more than 3,400 in 38 clinical and basic science departments and centers, Mount Sinai ranks among the top 20 medical schools in receipt of National Institute of Health (NIH) grants. To learn more about Dr. Samadi and the Mount Sinai Medical Center, please visit www.roboticoncology.com or www.mountsinai.org .