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A traditional laparoscopic approach for procedures within the pelvis is difficult because of the confined space in which the surgeon must work, which makes complex reconstructions and knot tying challenging. That is why the advent of the da Vinci robotic surgical system (Intuitive Surgical, Inc.), originally designed for beating-heart surgery, was quickly adopted by urologists. Today, robotic radical prostatectomy is more common than all other prostate surgeries combined. The original da Vinci system was approved by the FDA in 2001; a second-generation system was introduced in 2006. The robot does not work autonomously; the device is a master-slave system that can only do what its surgeon-master tells it to do. The new da Vinci system includes high-definition optics and the capacity to manipulate 3 separate instruments, up from the original 2. "The da Vinci system is a laparoscopic tool," explained Ketan K. Badani, MD, the Director of the Division of Robotic Surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. "Instead of using traditional laparoscopic instruments that have 4 degrees of freedom of motion, the robot-assisted instrumentation has all 7 degrees of freedom, just like your hand." Dr. Badani is an Assistant Professor of Urology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

robotic, partial, nephrectomies, prostectomies, pelvis, surgery, prostate, cancer,