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Akron General to examine how well surgeons retain skills after being trained on high-tech surgery system
By Cheryl Powell
Beacon Journal medical writer
Published on Wednesday, Oct 01, 2008
Akron General Medical Center this month landed an $850,000 federal grant — the hospital's largest research subsidy ever — to help the U.S. Army study robotic surgery.
The yearlong project will examine how well surgeons retain skills after getting trained to perform robotic surgery, Dr. Eric L. Jenison, Akron General's chair of obstetrics and gynecology and co-principal investigator of the trial, said on Tuesday.
The grant will enable the hospital to train 40 surgeons to use the $1.7 million da Vinci Robotic Surgical System, which Akron General acquired in January.
Akron General researchers then will test the doctors during a three-month period in which they don't perform robotic surgeries to determine whether their skills diminish, Jenison said.
Ultimately, Jenison said, information from the study could help the federal government boost national preparedness for emergencies and disasters by enabling surgeons to perform operations with a robot on a patient in a different location.
But Akron-area patients should benefit immediately from having more doctors trained to offer minimally invasive surgeries with the assistance of the robotic system, he said.
Akron General now has 11 surgeons on staff trained in the system.
''There are procedures, particularly cancer operations, that can be done better robotically,'' he said, with faster recovery times and fewer complications.
''It will be a wonderful thing for patients,'' he said.
The grant also could open the door for other federal research support for Akron General, said Karen M. Gil, clinical research associate and director for resident research in Akron General's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
The grant comes at a time when Akron General, Akron Children's Hospital, Summa Health System, the University of Akron and the Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy are talking about working together to boost biomedical research in the region.
Cheryl Powell can be reached at 330-996-3902 or chpowell@thebeaconjournal.com.
Akron General Medical Center this month landed an $850,000 federal grant — the hospital's largest research subsidy ever — to help the U.S. Army study robotic surgery.
Get the full article here.


would be nice if the people got a grant so they didn't have to pay $1500.00 for a 20 min ultra sound.
Question: How many OB/GYN procedures does the U.S. Army perform each year?