The Cobre Valley Regional Medical Center recently upgraded its operating room capabilities, by bringing onboard its first-ever robotic surgical system.

On May 15 the hospital acquired the da Vinci Xi, the fourth generation in a series of robotic surgical systems made by Intuitive Surgical, Inc. The series was launched in 2000, with the da Vinci Xi debuting 17 years later. Used for minimally invasive soft-tissue surgery (examples include gall bladder and hernia surgery, hysterectomies, prostatectomies and sometimes appendectomies), the Xi is Intuitive’s newest model. Jim Owens, BSN, a registered nurse with Cobre Valley Regional Medical Center and part of its operating room team, said this new acquisition “will bring cutting-edge technology to our community and outlying service regions.”

That technology includes a robotic arm assembly that can wield operating tools more flexibly than human hands, giving surgeons the full range of motion and the ability to perform more complex procedures, as well as 3-D visualization. With the robot, surgeons will be able to articulate their wrists so that they can sew more easily than they can laparoscopically.

Cobre Valley Regional Medical Center surgeons are already trained in using the Xi, and hospital staff trained on it for about two weeks. This experience and training bore fruit on June 1, when Cobre Valley performed its first procedure using the robotic system.

Not only will the da Vinci Xi allow Globe-Miami patients to have procedures done locally, without traveling to the Valley; its benefits can include shorter hospital stays, less pain, smaller incisions and less trauma to the body, and less chance of infection.

The community can learn more about this newly acquired system at a June 19 public open house, in the CVRMC Turquoise Room from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.