How one Gahanna surgery center is breaking barriers, and saving lives, with a new robotic system By Jack McLaughlin
Standing at six feet tall with four sharply angular arms ready to spring into action at any moment, the da Vinci Xi robot might at first appear dangerous to the untrained eye. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. This cutting-edge surgical system is not only saving lives by performing critical surgical procedures — including many for prostate and colon cancer—but it's also doing so much more efficiently than ever before. Last fall, Central Ohio Urology Group (COUG) brought a da Vinci Xi Surgical System to its ambulatory surgical center in Gahanna. Priced at over $2 million,
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the complex instrument is one of the first such robots in the country to exist outside of a hospital setting. According to Dr. Ronney Abaza—a world leader in robotic urology and one of COUG’s practicing surgeons—the new instrument not only offers the group’s local patients better care with less recovery, but also helps Gahanna stay on the absolute cutting edge of surgical medicine. “Until recently, robotic surgery was something that was done almost exclusively in a hospital,” said Dr. Abaza. “We’re one of less than five in the entire country doing something like this.” →
