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Sacred Heart Hospital is proud to be at the forefront in treatment and surgical options in urology. Advances include the da Vinci® surgical robot for prostate cancer treatment, hysterectomies, surgical and non-surgical treatments for incontinence and kidney disease, cancer, urinary incontinence, kidney stones and other diseases.
Surgical Procedures
An historic first in western Wisconsin: da Vinci® prostate surgery
On December 20, 2006, a da Vinci® robot-assisted prostatectomy was performed at Sacred Heart Hospital, the first procedure of its kind in the region’s history. Friends of Sacred Heart Hospital, our foundation, funded this breakthrough system because da Vinci® patients experience dramatically shorter hospital stays, faster recoveries and better outcomes. da Vinci® is a major technological advance that takes medicine beyond the limits of the surgeon’s hands to allow greater visualization, enhanced dexterity and precision. This technology means less blood loss, less tissue that needs to heal, greater safety, reduced infection risk and reduced recovery time and greater hope and healing for our patients. Not only does leading-edge technology like da Vinci® help us provide better care and more treatment alternatives for our patients, it helps us recruit the best and brightest physicians (specialists that would otherwise only consider practicing in major metropolitan cities). Advanced technology helps us fulfill our Mission of providing you with access to excellent care close to home.
Click here to learn more about the da Vinci® Surgical System
This surgical system is the most dramatic advance in minimally invasive surgeries—and Sacred Heart’s urologists are the most experienced in western Wisconsin at putting its talents to work.
The da Vinci® Surgical System, in the hands of our talented surgeons, brings hope and healing to prostate cancer patients. The surgical techniques offered through this system are highly effective, yet gentle around those most delicate of tissues.
- Smaller incisions
- Fewer side effects
- Lower risk of complications
- Faster recovery
View our da Vinci® print ads here:
Indoor Ad 1
Indoor Ad 2
Outdoor Ad
Listen to our da Vinci® radio commercials here:
(To listen, make sure your computer volume is on)
Radio commercial 1
Radio commercial 2
Advanced Minimally Invasive Techniques & Treatments
Many new techniques and treatments at Sacred Heart Hospital have nearly eliminated the need for surgery to remove kidney stones. New techniques and enhanced technology also significantly reduce your recovery time. In addition to open surgery (used only for very complicated cases), procedures to treat stones include:
- Lithotripsy is a medical procedure that uses high energy shock waves to break up stones that form in the kidney, bladder, ureters or gallbladder. ESWL (Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy) is a non-surgical and non-invasive procedure that uses ultrasound and fluoroscopy to locate the stone in order to focus shock waves to fragment the stone into small pieces. EHL (Electrohydraulic Lithotripsy) and Laser Lithotripsy are also used to break up stones in the bladder or in the ureter.
- Laparoscopic Surgery is performed with an instrument inserted through small incisions, allowing the surgeon to work using a small video camera and specialized instruments. This procedure is less invasive than open surgery and results in less tissue that will need to heal and reduced complications.
- PNL (Percutaneous Nephrolithtomy), a treatment for large stones located within the kidney. The procedure uses general anesthesia and a small incision to place an instrument into the kidney and down the ureter under fluoroscopic guidance. Using a nephroscope to visualize the stone, the stone is fragmented and removed.
- Endoscopy, a lighted medical instrument inserted into the body (usually through a small incision) used for diagnostic examination and surgical procedures.
- Ureteroscopy involves general anesthesia and the use of a very small, fiber-optic instrument to visualize and remove stones in the ureter or kidney.