Monday, May 19, 2025
In an eye-opening demonstration of medical innovation, Mount Sinai South Nassau showcased its state-of-the-art robotic surgical systems on Wednesday, offering a glimpse into the future of minimally invasive medical procedures.
Surgery that was once performed through large, invasive incisions is now accomplished through tiny ports and with unprecedented precision, benefitting patients in many significant ways.
Dr. Rajiv Datta, director of the hospital’s Surgical Oncology Program at the hospital, traced three decades of innovation — from big-incision “open” surgeries to laparoscopy in the 1990s, and then the first MD Anderson-designed robot in 2001, to today’s robotic da Vinci 5 Surgical System.
Laparoscopy — using long instruments through small cuts guided by a two-dimensional camera — marked the first advancement. However, the leap to robotics in 2001 truly transformed what minimally invasive surgery could achieve.
“Three decades ago, we operated with big incisions,” Datta said. “Now, our robotic systems allow surgeons to perform complex procedures with minimal trauma to the patient.”
Last week, Mount Sinai showcased live demonstrations of the da Vinci robotic system, with physicians explaining how it works and hospital workers and media members getting hands-on experience.
In 2011, the da Vinci Surgical System gained traction and was being utilized for various surgical procedures. Known for its improved vision and easier setup, the system was designed to help surgeons perform minimally invasive surgery. Since acquiring its first da Vinci system in 2011, Mount Sinai South Nassau has performed thousands of procedures using it.
“For our patients, recovery can shrink from days to 24 hours,” Datta said. “They bleed less, hurt less, and get back to life faster.”
With 2.6 million procedures completed in 2024 globally and a total of 17 million since inception, these robots are already making significant impacts. The overwhelmingly positive patient feedback reflects growing trust in robotic surgical technologies and their potential to improve surgical outcomes.
“Patients are very knowledgeable,” Datta said. “They want to know, ‘Can this be done robotically?’”
A panel of specialists trained in robotic surgery at Mount Sinai described how they leverage the system across urologic, thoracic, colorectal, gynecologic and head-and-neck cancer cases.
“The robot mix maneuvers that you can’t do with your natural hand,” nurse Kathleen Malone, assistant director of patient care services, said.
Despite the futuristic look, every movement remains under surgeon control. At the hospital’s bedside, three or four robotic arms hold ultra-slender instruments and a high-definition camera. The most striking feature of these systems is their ability to navigate complex body structures using advanced digital imaging. Surgeons can now control robotic arms with great precision, following digital maps and making quick adjustments at important branching points within the patient’s body.
“There’s less tissue trauma with the robot, because you’re controlling it,” surgical oncologist Ann Buhl said. “You can bring it within a centimeter of what you’re looking at. It’s crystal clear. So it’s better than when an open procedure. It really is amazing technology.”
At a nearby console, a surgeon sits comfortably in an ergonomic chair, peering through a three-dimensional viewer and manipulating handgrips that translate natural wrist movements into micro-motions inside the body. Foot pedals let the surgeon steer the camera and activate fluorescence imaging to highlight blood vessels, or switch instruments — all without removing hands from the controls.
“In the future, it’s going to be the catheter delivery system, where the catheter takes us to the tumor, and we’re able to bring a probe in, freeze the tumor, burn the tumor, and give local chemotherapy,” said Dr. Joshua Melamed, Director of thoracic oncology at the hospital.
Queued to sit at the surgeon’s console, visitors were guided through grabbing, flipping and repositioning rubber bands, adjusting camera zoom, and toggling fluorescence mode. First-time users uniformly described the experience as intuitive and “surprisingly smooth.”
“The misconception is that when one hears robotic surgery, they think that a robot is actually doing the surgery, that it’s somewhat automated. That is not the case,” Dr. Dean Pappas, chief of colon and rectal surgery, said.
Experts predict that within the next 10 to 20 years, these robotic systems could evolve from assisted surgical tools to nearly autonomous medical practitioners. By analyzing millions of recorded procedures, artificial intelligence could enable robots to perform surgeries with minimal human intervention.
“AI is going to come, and it’s going to be able to do even more,” Buhl said. “It will never be able to replace the person, but AI will be a complement.”
The future of surgery is not just about technology — it’s about enhancing human capabilities, reducing errors, and ultimately improving patient outcomes.
“Millions of procedures have been recorded that they’re studying and analyzing through AI,” Melamed said. “Once a robot learns and watches the same procedure millions of times from different angles and different surgeons, it’s going
to take over and be able to do it autonomously.”
