Robotic surgery with tiny incision speeds recovery for local woman

Kathy Jennings | Thursday, February 6, 2014

Inga Springman

Typical recovery time from a hysterectomy can be six weeks, with a few days in the hospital immediately following the procedure. Inga Springman went home the same day after her's, in time to celebrate her son's 10th birthday.

Within a week she was back at the gym.

Springman is the first patient in southwest Michigan to undergo a hysterectomy using a robot directed by a surgeon at Borgess Medical Center. Anna Hoekstra, MD, a gynecologic oncologist at the West Michigan Cancer Center, and other members of the Borgess Robotic Surgery Program, performed the surgery.

It requires a single, tiny incision next to the bellybutton. Dr. Hoekstra removed the uterus, fallopian tubes, cervix and ovaries through the vagina. Women are left with only one, almost invisible scar hidden in the navel.

Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, single-site robotic hysterectomy offers advantages such as shorter hospital stays and recovery times, smaller incisions, and less pain and blood loss.

"Like other new minimally invasive and robotic procedures we now offer, the single-site incision hysterectomy allows patients to receive the care they need and return home sooner with a shorter recovery time,” says Debra Thompson, administrative director, Borgess Surgical Services.

Genetic testing showed that Sprigman had an increased risk of both breast and ovarian cancer. The 40-year-old native of Ukraine and mother of four had a double mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer and asked for the hysterectomy as a preventative measure. Throughout her life she has had 11 surgeries.

"After having so many surgeries, it’s hard for me to believe that I even had this surgery," Springman says. "I had no surgical pain or bleeding at all and I would say that it was by far the easiest surgery that I have had. Best of all, my recovery time was really short."

Source: Mike Smith, Borgess Health