Dr. Sheev Dattani Achieves Milestone in Colon and Rectal Surgeries
Saint Alphonsus minimally invasive and robotically-trained Colorectal Surgeon Dr. Sheev Dattani has performed his 500th robotic colorectal surgery. The milestone procedure was conducted in March, Colon Cancer Awareness Month, when the cause, prevention and treatment of the fourth most-common cancer is in the spotlight.
Dattani utilizes the minimally invasive surgical approach to significantly reduce a patient’s length of hospital stay as well as the likelihood of infection or complications.
“Robotic surgery has many benefits for patients,” said Dr. Sheev Dattani. “With access to the robot, I can perform surgeries faster than with traditional methods and minimally invasively – meaning patients need less anesthesia, smaller incisions, fewer complications and faster recoveries. In most cases, my patients can return home the day following their surgery and return to regular activity within one week.”
Robotic surgical technology improves the surgeon’s ability to see with three-dimensional, high-definition cameras, and three working arms to perform delicate procedures. The arms control instruments that provide 540-degrees of rotational, tremor-filtered movement. The surgeon can operate with greater precision and accuracy over laparoscopic or open surgical techniques. Saint Alphonsus recently added a second surgical robot, reflecting growth in the non-invasive surgical program to meet increasing community needs.
This accuracy allows Dattani to achieve better results and reduces the chance of suture failure, which can lead to leakage of gastrointestinal contents, resulting in one of the most serious complications of bowel resection surgery. The national average leakage rate is up to 7%. With the robot, Dattani maintains a leakage rate of 1.8%.
Dr. Dattani encourages people to get a screening exam. Colonoscopy remains the “gold standard” for screening, and he says new guidelines recommend screening at age 45. He says he’s seeing younger people for treatment of colorectal cancer, and the National Cancer Institute reports cases of colorectal cancer nearly doubled for Americans under age 55. The NCI says the disease has become the leading cause of cancer deaths for Americans 20 to 49 years old.
