Sunway Medical Centre commemorates a big milestone in robot-assisted surgeries, celebrating 1000 successful surgeries and its patients. Committed to being a leading smart hospital, SunMed advances further with the acquisition of the highly advanced, da Vinci Xi 4th Generation Surgical System.

Advantages of robot-assisted surgeries

A common misconception of robotic-assisted surgery is that it is performed by the robot. On the contrary, it is an advanced set of instruments, designed to assist surgeons in performing complex surgeries. The key advantage of using similar systems is that the surgeries are minimally invasive. This method will only require multiple smaller incisions called ‘keyholes’ rather than the bigger incisions in conventional procedures. This is particularly advantageous when having to perform surgeries on deeper lying tissue within the body, where accessibility and visibility for the surgeon is low. Patients benefit from this method too with faster recovery times and of course, less post-operative pain. Helen Ng, General Manager of MIS (Minimally Invasive Surgery) Services and Robotic Surgery, heaped praise on the system’s consistency and precision which lead to minimal scarring and blood loss for patients.

The acquisition of the da Vinci Xi system is an achievement in itself, being the first of its kind in Malaysia. The major subsystems consist of the Patient cart, housing robotic arms, the Vision cart and the Surgeon console. The robotic arms are modular and can be swapped with various instruments required for the surgery. These include grips that mimic the surgeons’ fingers in motion; forceps, cameras and many more. The arms can also be positioned independently of each other at various depth, making it versatile enough for multiple procedure types. The vision cart channels all the camera feed to allow nurses and surgeons to observe the procedure in real time. And finally, the surgeon console is where the surgeon conducts the procedure with the assistance of control handles to move the robotic arms and instruments with high precision, as well as view the procedure in real time 3D imaging.

Sunway Medical Centre’s commitment to smart tech in healthcare

Sunway Medical Centre has been committed to the smart hospital initiative since 2016, with robot-assisted surgery being a key focus area. They initially started with the acquisition of the previous iteration da Vinci Si surgical system specializing for abdominal surgeries. Since then, they have further added on systems from Mako SmartRobotics and ROSA Knee system, used mainly for knee and hip replacement surgeries. In fact, Sunway Medical Center has recently celebrated Malaysia’s first robot-assisted joint replacement surgery in 2021. The newly acquired da Vinci Xi system is a further step up from the previous Si system. Dr Tan Ee Ping, the first surgeon to conduct a procedure with the Xi system, added that it brings a host of improved functionality compared to its predecessors and has “…smaller, thinner arms with newly designed joints that offer a great range of motion”.

Sunway Medical Centre has been so impressed with the performance of the da Vinci Xi system that they already plan to acquire a second unit, further highlighting their commitment to robot-assisted surgeries. Helen Ng believes that “The more we operate with these highly advanced robotic technologies,
the more encouraged I feel that we are truly providing Malaysians with the best possible smart hospital technology to help them live their lives without pain”.