dbeard@dominionpost.com
MORGANTOWN – Mon Health Medical Center is once again on the leading edge of surgery – this time with a new technology to treat enlarged prostate in men.
The condition is called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The procedure to remove tissue causing urinary obstruction doesn’t use knives or heat or icy cold; it uses water – called aquablation.
Mon Health urologist Dr. Jaschar Shakuri-Rad, medical director of Robotic Surgery, is the first in the state and local region to use the latest advance in that technology: the HYDROS Robotic System.
HYDROS is a person-sized tower on wheels, with touch screens and robotic arms.
One of the chief assets, Dr. Rad said, is the built-in artificial intelligence. The manufacturer, Procept BioRobotics, calls it FirstAssist AI.
The AI gathers data and learns from each procedure, Rad said. And it uses that to help plan the subsequent operations.
“So it’s getting smarter every time we feed it more data. So the more cases it does, the smarter it gets. … It helps me plan the surgery very quickly because it has a very good algorithm. … The operation is more streamlined, it’s safer, more efficient.”
Here’s how it work. Dr. Rad and HYDROS are stationed at the foot of the patient bed. The tower has two robotic arms. One has an ultrasound device inserted rectally to just under the prostate, to offer images of the prostate in multiple dimensions.
The other arm has two tools inserted through the urethra: a camera to offer images inside the prostate and a water jet to cut away the tissue. Dr. Rad calls it a pressure washer and a video of it at work shows the nozzle swishing back and forth.
The AI-assisted visuals, he said, help them mark areas of the prostate they want opened up. “We only open up what’s necessary,” and leave the rest alone. This helps them avoid critical muscles such as the sphincter, the rectum and the nerves around the prostate that preserve sexual function.
A traditional BPH procedure can run anywhere from 45-90 minutes, Dr. Rad said. The morning of our visit to the operating room, he’d done three procedures of 20-25 minutes each.
This means less time under anesthesia for the patient, he said. It uses less water. He’d recently spoken with a colleague who performs laser procedures that require 25-30 3-liter bags of water. Rad’s AI-assisted procedure uses just two bags.
All of this means less cost for the patient.
The procedure typically requires an overnight stay, but can sometimes be outpatient, he said. There are no negative effects on sexual function or urinary continence, and no recurrence of symptoms for a decade or more. The current research shows about 10 years but more data from more procedures will give a picture of the full duration.
Rad said Mon Health had a prior version of the company’s system, but just acquired this newer AI-assisted one. It’s the first in the area. And patients are coming from as far as Florida for the therapy.
“They come because they understand the technology helps them preserve those functions.”
Rad calls this steady advancement in robotic surgery – from multi-port robots to single-port to this natural orifice surgery – “minimizing minimally invasive surgery.” This new aquablation requires no incisions and leaves no scars.
“We are offering these advanced things at a community hospital, which I think is very unique.” It levels the playing field somewhat against giant academic centers in surrounding states.
And for the patients, “It makes them feel better when they see that homey, close-knit community that we have in our health system. I think that’s the special sauce for us.”
Mon Health Medical Center is part of Vandalia North, and the Vandalia Health System. David Goldberg, president and CEO of Vandalia North, commented, “We are proud to be at the forefront of medical innovation by introducing HYDROS technology for Aquablation therapy. This milestone reflects our unwavering commitment to investing in the latest technologies to improve patient care and provide advanced treatment options to our community.”
