In 2018, Mercy Health – Lourdes Hospital was proud to be the first hospital in the Paducah, Ky. region with robotic-assisted general surgery.
And today, we are expanding access to our robotic surgeons, Clinton Kaufman, DO (pictured above, right) and Alice Higdon, DO (pictured above, left), by opening a new satellite clinic: Mercy Health — Marshall General Surgery.
“Opening this new location is important because getting to see a specialist can be difficult for many patients,” Dr. Higdon shares. “By us coming to Marshall County, we are hoping to make this easier for that community and the surrounding areas.”
Dr. Kaufman adds, “opening this new location provides more access to care for patients who have difficulty with transportation or can’t travel as far.”
Both providers are certified in the da Vinci Surgical System, a sophisticated surgical tool that allows our surgeons to skillfully perform surgical procedures for a wide range of complex conditions through one- to two-centimeter incisions.
Robotic-assisted surgery offers many benefits such as:
- Less pain
- Shorter hospital stays
- Shorter overall recovery time
- Faster return to normal daily activities
“We have seen significant advancements in robotics in many areas of medicine at Lourdes Hospital: gynecology, cardiothoracic and general surgery to name a few,” Dr. Higdon explains. “In fact, we went from the robot not being used by general surgery to now having three surgeons with case offerings. We will also continue to grow in the types of cases we offer. Overall, it is nice to see patients recover in a quicker timeframe than with open surgery.”
There are several different procedures and conditions that our patients can be treated with robotic assisted surgery.
- Appendectomy – for patients with appendicitis
- Cholecystectomy – to remove the gallbladder
- Hernia repair – inguinal incisional abdominal wall hernia
- Robotic colon surgery – treatment of a variety of colon cancers and recurrent diverticular disease
And what used to take patients months to schedule is now happening in weeks.
“You can get robotic surgery with any of the surgeons in our group, and you can’t get this anywhere else,” Dr. Higdon shares. “We are typically scheduling patients for surgery the next week, so you don’t have to wait for your surgery either. We want to make you feel better faster, and with us each doing robotic surgery, you have many options available for you.”
“Technology as well as our team of providers can decrease time to appointments and more options for clinic visits,” Dr. Kaufman says. “In turn, this provides the patient with the ability to have their procedure without delay.”
Dr. Kaufman and Dr. Higdon also provide general surgery care related to the breast, colon and rectum, gallbladder, stomach, melanoma, soft tissue and gastrointestinal malignancy.
Learn more about the general surgery services we offer at Mercy Health.
