More on Mark's Kidney Tumor Removed Using the da Vinci Robotic Surgical System by Da Vinci

Mark was seen today for postop follow-up in Houston. His oncologist and surgeon both told him his tumor was cancerous and the cancer was called "clear cell" carcinoma.

You can read about the da vinci robotic arm system at http://medgadget.com/archives/2005/07/da_vinci_robot.html See picture of same above. It is like three arms on a post. Each arm has a wrist with 8 degrees of function. The surgeon sits across the room from the patient with their arms inserted into a console. The focus is adjusted by foot pedals.
Addendum 1/12/2011 Four days before Mark's surgery Time Magazine Dec. 13,2010 had a seven page article on the Da Vinci surgical robot. We just read it today. The article says there are a thousand hospitals and clinics in this country and 400 others in the world that have this machine and that half of all prostate cancer operations are done using this robot.Dr. Mani Menon, born in India, was the first surgeon in this country to use a robot to remove a cancerous prostate gland. He was a protege of Dr. Patrick Walsh of Johns Hopkins and learned Dr. Walsh's technique for doing surgery for prostate cancer that left the patient still potent and continent. This technique had the surgeon doing the work using his hands and going by feel not sight. Using the robot, Dr. Menon and now others, can see the surgical site. In 2000 Dr. Menon opened the country's first center for robotic prostatectomy at Henry Ford. Currently the da Vinci robot is used for many types of surgeries in various parts of the body. The da vinci robot costs more than one million dollars and after each procedure parts worth around $1,500 have to be replaced.