Staff Report
Published Aug. 28, 2012

Trident Health has become a case observation site for training robotic surgeons in the Southeast, the health care system recently announced.

Eighteen surgeons with robotics training make up Trident’s South Carolina Institute for Robotic Surgery.

The institute was recognized nationally as a model robotics program for surgical best practices, Trident said, and hospitals from around the country observe the robotics team.

“It is rewarding to introduce other physicians to the excitement of robotic surgery and to have a part in their mentoring,” said Dr. Jeffrey Lafond, who performed the Lowcountry’s first single-site gallbladder surgery.

Meanwhile, on July 31, the institute reached a milestone after performing its 2,000th robotic surgery — the removal of a kidney. The procedure was completed by Dr. Ted Brisson, who performed the institute’s first robotic case in 2008.

The institute is equipped with two da Vinci Surgical Systems, which enables surgeons to perform precise, minimally invasive surgery. Benefits of robotic surgery include less scarring, shorter hospital stay, reduced blood loss, reduced trauma and a faster recovery.