Meet Our Robotic Surgeons
One thing is for certain, if technology is involved, then improvements and upgrades are bound to happen! That’s the case for laparoscopy. After almost 30 years of a basically unchanged platform, the next generation of minimally invasive surgery has arrived.
DR. HARKINS
DR. THORNS
The da Vinci Xi robotic surgery system is here!
It is to laparoscopic surgery like the modern cell phone of today is to the bag cell phone of the 1990s. Dr. Harkins trained back then on the new platform of laparoscopy in the early 1990s. He excelled with the minimally invasive platform and received numerous awards for his abilities.
He continued to provide his best in laparoscopic care sharing his expertise by training other surgeons along the way. Robotic surgery was also being developed during that time but lacked many of the capabilities in its early form to allow it to become a mainstream general surgery platform. Many hospitals still use these older da Vinci robotic surgery models.
As a technology buff, Dr. Harkins was ecstatic to see the capabilities of the new da Vinci Xi robotic surgery system released in July 2014. It offered improvements and enhancements in almost every phase of minimally invasive surgery over standard laparoscopy as well as previous da Vinci robotic surgery systems. From its introduction in 2014, he has aggressively pursued to master this incredible new platform and become the best robotic surgeon possible.
He spent many hours, first on a simulator, and then went on to the specialized hands-on laboratory training required to be a robotic surgeon. Shortly thereafter he began offering this state-of-the-art technology to his patients in an effort to become one of the most experienced Houston robotic surgeons on this platform.
His years of experience as a minimally invasive surgeon combined with the capabilities of the newest da Vinci robotic surgery system served him well. He not only became recognized as a leader in Houston robotic surgery but has been recognized as one of the top one percent most experienced general surgeons using the da Vinci Xi platform in the world!
He continues to be committed to promoting surgical excellence and improvement. He now routinely offers other surgeons the opportunity to observe him and his highly skilled Houston robotic surgery team performing surgery cases using the da Vinci robotic surgery system. He also travels to other sites where he proctors newly trained robotic surgeons to help them start their robotic surgery careers.
Practicing exclusively at Tomball Regional Medical Center, he has helped this facility to become the first of all Houston robotic surgery locations to have not one, but two of the state-of-the-art da Vinci Xi robotic surgery systems.
Numerous technology enhancements are available exclusively on this new system as compared to the older da Vinci robotic surgery platforms. Older platforms like the “S” and Si” will likely be phased out over time as even more exciting future enhancements will be applicable only to the da Vinci Xi surgical system.
Having access to two systems helps ensure Dr. Harkins’ patients access to the most sophisticated minimally invasive surgery platform available to Houston robotic surgeons. Don’t waste your time with the old bag cell phone of the 1990s. Schedule your appointment today with a leading Houston robotic surgeon and see how state-of-the-art robotic surgery technology can benefit you in your time of surgical need.
