Surgical Services

Overview

Lovelace offers a wide variety of surgical services and state-of-the-art technology to ensure our patient's surgical needs are covered in Albuquerque and Roswell. Our highly skilled team of surgeons remains on the cutting edge of technology and procedures.

Traditional Surgery

Traditional, or open, surgery involves an incision that is made using a scalpel. The surgeon then inserts the instruments and conducts the surgery. In some cases open surgery is preferable to provide the visual information required to completely remove tissues or accurately diagnose a condition, a larger incision may also be required to access a larger area in the body. It's important to discuss your options with your surgeon to find the best option for your care.

Minimally Invasive Surgery

Minimally invasive surgery combines your surgeon's understanding of anatomy with cutting-edge technology to treat a multitude of conditions using small incisions and the assistance of imaging. Often minimally invasive surgery offers faster recovery times and reduced rates of infection. It is important to understand that the decision to receive minimally invasive surgery is individualized to the patient and the patient's symptoms. It is important to discuss with your physician whether minimally invasive surgery is right for you.

Robotic Surgery

Robotic surgery, or robot-assisted surgery, allows doctors to perform many types of complex procedures with more precision, control, and flexibility. Robotic surgery offers patients facing surgery many potential benefits over traditional open surgery, including less pain, less scarring, shorter hospital stays, and a faster return to daily activities.

Traditional Surgery

Minimally Invasive

Minimally invasive surgical options use the latest in surgical and robotics technologies to perform routine and complex surgery – taking surgery beyond the limits of the human hand. This technology allows major surgery to be performed through very small incisions. Benefits can include less pain, a shorter hospital stay, faster return to normal daily activities and the potential for better clinical outcomes.

Robotic Surgery

da Vinci

The da Vinci® Surgical System allows surgeons to offer an effective, minimally invasive option for complex surgical procedures. Small 1 – 2 centimeter incisions are used to introduce miniaturized wristed instruments and a high-definition 3-D camera. Your surgeon views a magnified, high-resolution 3-D image of the surgical site. At the same time, state-of-the-art robotic and computer technologies scale, filter and seamlessly translate your surgeon's hand movements into precise micro-movements of the robotic instruments. The system requires that every surgical maneuver be performed with direct input from your surgeon.

Lovelace Women’s Hospital is the first and only hospital in New Mexico to have earned the Surgical Review Corporation’s Center of Excellence in Robotic Surgery (COERS). The COERS program was developed to recognize surgeons and facilities worldwide performing robotic procedures and achieving defined standards for patient safety and care quality. The surgeons who are part of our Center of Excellence in Robotic Surgery as Master Surgeons are the first in New Mexico to achieve this designation and we are proud to recognize their achievements.

da Vinci Procedures

General Surgery for Abdominal Issues

Colon and intestinal surgery
Gallbladder issues
Simple to complex hernia repairs, including complex abdominal wall hernias - all with small incisions and a quick recovery
Stomach repairs

Gynecology

Uterine fibroids
Endometriosis
Uterine prolapsed
Menorrhagia or excessive bleeding
Cervical and uterine cancer

Urology

Prostate cancer
Kidney disorders or cancer
Bladder cancer
Urinary blockage

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For more information on da Vinci, please call 505.727.6758 or complete the form below.

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Globus

The Globus ExcelsiusGPS offers the next revolution in robotic spine surgery for back pain relief. Robotic surgery improves accuracy and optimizes patient care by using a state-of-the-art combination of robotics and navigation. This technology offers a less invasive option for spine surgery, a reduction in radiation exposure for both the patient and the surgeon and a faster recovery period.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is minimally invasive surgery (MIS)?

MIS is surgery typically performed through small incisions, or operating ports, rather than large incisions, resulting in potentially shorter recovery times, fewer complications, reduced hospitalization costs and reduced trauma to the patient. While MIS has become the standard for some surgical procedures, it has not been widely adopted for more complex or delicate procedures – for example, prostatectomy and mitral valve repair.

In traditional open surgery, the physician makes a long incision and then widens it to access the anatomy. In traditional minimally invasive surgery, which is widely used for routine procedures, the surgeon operates using rigid, hand-operated instruments, which are passed through small incisions and views the anatomy on a standard video monitor. Neither this laparoscopic instrumentation nor the video monitor can provide the surgeon with the excellent visualization needed to perform complex surgery like valve repair or nerve-sparing prostatectomy.

What are the benefits of robotic surgery compared with traditional methods of surgery?

Some of the major benefits experienced by surgeons using a robotic surgical system over traditional approaches have been greater surgical precision, increased range of motion, improved dexterity, enhanced visualization and improved access. Benefits experienced by patients may include a shorter hospital stay, less pain, less risk of infection, less blood loss, fewer transfusions, less scarring, faster recovery and a quicker return to normal daily activities. None of these benefits can be guaranteed, as surgery is necessarily both patient- and procedure-specific.

Does robotic surgery make the surgeon unnecessary?

On the contrary, robotic surgery enables surgeons to be more precise, advancing their technique and enhancing their capability in performing complex minimally invasive surgery. The system replicates the surgeon's movements in real time. It cannot be programmed, nor can it make decisions on its own to move in any way or perform any type of surgical maneuver without the surgeon's input.

Is a surgeon using a surgical robot operating in "virtual reality"?

Although seated at a console a few feet away from the patient, the surgeon views an actual image of the surgical field while operating in real-time, through tiny incisions, using miniaturized, wristed instruments. At no time does the surgeon see a virtual image or program/command the system to perform any maneuver on its own or outside of the surgeon's direct, real-time control.