St. Lukes Hospital is now one of only 15 hospitals across the United States to teach robotic gynecologic surgery to other doctors. This means surgeons from around the country will travel to St. Lukes to learn the latest techniques in robotic surgery from Jerry Rozeboom, MD, OB/GYN Associates, P.C.

St. Lukes and the other teaching hospitals are called Robotic Epicenters, which means they are the top performing centers in the country for Robotic Surgery. This national Robotic Epicenter program was started in August by Intuitive Surgical the maker of the da Vinci surgical robot.

St. Lukes earned the Robotic Epicenter designation last week and is one of three Robotic Epicenters in the Midwest. The closest Epicenters are Grand Rapids, MI and Columbus, OH. Surgeons from Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Minnesota, North and South Dakota are expected to travel to St. Lukes to train with Dr. Rozeboom.

The Epicenter Program at St. Lukes officially gets underway on Monday, October 26, when the hospital hosts its guest a surgeon from Chicago. The doctor will spend the day observing Dr. Rozeboom in surgery.

Its an honor to be associated with the Epicenter philosophy and program, said Jerry Rozeboom, MD, OB/GYN Associates, P.C. It recognizes that we in Cedar Rapids are very blessed to have a group of surgeons and a hospital that are very dedicated to robotic surgery and have been recognized nationally as being very good at what we do. To be designated as one of only 15 centers in the entire United States says a lot about our robotic program here at St. Lukes.

St. Lukes acquired its first surgical robot in the fall of 2005 and a second in 2008. The surgical robot is used for minimally invasive surgeries through tiny openings. It allows a surgeon to use a special console that has hand and foot controls to move the robotic arms. A tiny 3-D camera helps the surgeon see and perform intricate surgical procedures. The surgical robot translates the surgeons natural hand motions at the control console into corresponding movements of the robotic instruments.

The surgical robot is used primarily for gynecological and urological procedures at St. Lukes in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

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