WTEN: SPHP Celebrates 20,000 Robotic Surgeries

St. Peter’s Health Partners (SPHP) recently celebrated its 20,000th robotic surgery — a milestone that puts SPHP among the world’s elite health care systems.

In recognition of this, WTEN interviewed James K. Reed, M.D., President & CEO of SPHP; Christopher Bloss, M.D., medical director of minimally invasive surgery at Samaritan Hospital; and Dr. Bloss’ patient, Alison Herdemian.

From the story:

“What this shows is St. Peter’s continues to be in the vanguard in bringing leading edge technologies to our patients,” said Dr. James Reed, President and CEO of SPHP, as the local provider celebrates being one of just 26 systems in the world to reach the achievement.

SPHP has used the Da Vinci Computer-Enhanced Surgical System since 2004, giving surgeons an innovative and minimally invasive way to treat a number of different conditions.

“It’s pretty phenomenal what the robot has done in terms of my approach to doing surgeries over the years,” said Dr. Christopher Bloss, Medical Director of Minimally Invasive Surgery at Samaritan Hospital in Troy.

Herdemian was diagnosed with stage four endometriosis and was told conventional surgery would be too risky, “So I was just going to have to keep suffering and living in pain. So I was referred to Dr. Bloss, and he didn’t even think about it, he didn’t even think about it. He said I’ll do it.”