From the May 16, 2008, St. Louis Business Journal

Through dime-sized incisions, Missouri Baptist Medical Center provides a major new treatment option for prostate cancer patients. Part of an overall strategy -- and more than a $1 million investment -- to create the Prostate Cancer Treatment Program, Missouri Baptist is committed to offering patients the most advanced treatment options available.

As part of this commitment, the Hospital purchased the da Vinci Robotic Surgical System, enabling surgeons to perform da Vinci prostatectomies, an advanced surgery for prostate cancer. 

"With the da Vinci system, we offer prostate cancer patients the most advanced, minimally invasive alternative for treating this disease," says Joan Magruder, president, Missouri Baptist Medical Center. "They can select the best treatment -- either surgical or radiation -- depending on how fast the cancer is growing, how much it has spread and the patient's age and health."

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men in the United States. One in six American men will be diagnosed with the disease. About 38 percent will undergo a prostatectomy, 38 percent will be treated by radiation and 24 percent will "wait and watch."

Compared to open prostatectomy, the da Vinci procedure results in shorter hospital stays, less blood loss and a quicker recovery times for patients, says David Keetch, MD, urologic surgeon. "Early studies also suggest that the system potentially improves long-term cancer cure rates, the preservation of sexual potency and urinary continence as compared to traditional surgery."

The da Vinci S Surgical System -- with 3D High-Definition (HD) vision -- is a sophisticated robotic platform that allows a surgeon's hand movements to be scaled, filtered and translated into precise micro-movements of tiny instruments. It consists of an surgeon's console, an operating table with four interactive robotic arms, a high-performance vision system and instruments.

The superior visualization and precise control helps a surgeon perform complex procedures -- such as radical prostatectomy -- through dime-sized incisions. Using the system's micro-movements, the surgeons can isolate and remove the cancer from surrounding delicate tissue even in confined spaces.

The Medical Center and radiation oncologist Humberto Fagundes, MD, are already recognized for high prostate cancer cure rates in the use of radioactive seed implants, a minimally-invasive procedure that provides a high dose of radiation to a small area, limiting damage to the surrounding tissue and resulting in a 94 percent cure rate in more than 1,000 patients treated with this modality since 1999. Missouri Baptist Medical Center also provides image-guided Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy as an alternative treatment for prostate cancer patients.

Partial funding for the da Vinci system was be provided by donors to the Missouri Baptist HealthCare Foundation, dedicated to the philanthropic mission of the Hospital. "We are grateful to these leadership donors who believed in our vision of providing the best choices in prostrate cancer treatment," says Magruder. "They made this wonderful acquisition possible because of its benefit to our patients and the community need." Missouri Baptist Medical Center also plans to use the new da Vinci system for certain gynecological surgeries, such as hysterectomies.