Our Services

General Surgery

Our general surgery specialists take care of patients requiring:

• Surgery for colon cancer
• Major and minor abdominal procedures, including digestive tract, biliary tract (liver, gallbladder, pancreas)
• Hernia surgery (Ventral, hiatal and inguinal)
• Skin and soft tissue surgery (abscesses, abnormal moles, lesions, cysts, lipomas, melanoma)
• Biopsy (liver, lymph node, temporal artery)
• Hemorrhoids

All of our general surgeons are robotically trained and sub-specialize within their field.  Click on the meet the team button to learn more about our team. 

Robotic Surgery

Cayuga Health is home to the da Vinci® XI™ Surgical System, the most advanced minimally invasive option for complex surgeries in the areas of general, gynecologic and urologic surgery.

By enabling efficient access throughout the abdomen or chest, the da Vinci Xi System expands upon core da Vinci System features, including wristed instruments, 3D-HD visualization, intuitive motion, and an ergonomic design. As with all da Vinci Surgical Systems, the surgeon is 100% in control of the robotic-assisted da Vinci System, which translates his/her hand movements into smaller, more precise movements of tiny instruments inside the patient’s body. The Xi System’s immersive 3D-HD vision system provides surgeons a highly magnified view, virtually extending their eyes and hands into the patient.

How does robotic surgery benefit the patient?

• Less recovery time
• Lower length of stay
• Shorter surgery times
• Better visualization and movement for the surgeon
• Smaller incisions, less scaring

Which surgeries can be done robotically?

• Hernia
• Gallbladder
• Colon
• Many others

Please do not hesitate to call the Surgical Specialists office with any questions

We are truly thrilled to be a leader in this field and look forward to continue bringing more services to Ithaca. As well as expanding into Cortland and Schuyler with more minimally invasive surgical options.

How it Works?

The da Vinci Xi has two separate but connected sections:

1. The tower, which is positioned directly over the patient during surgery, contains the robot’s four arms—three that can hold a multitude of different surgical instruments, and a fourth that holds the system’s 3-D cameras. These arms are controlled by a computer that exactly replicates the movements of the operating surgeon.
2. The console is where the surgeon sits and operates the robot’s controls while looking into a stereoscopic monitor that provides a magnified, high definition 3-D view of the surgical site. The surgeon manipulates the robot’s four arms by maneuvering two master controls that provide fingertip precision of movement.

The surgeon also operates a foot-switch that provides additional options.  Touchpads allow the surgeon to easily adjust video, audio and system settings, while the ergonomic console and the alignment of the controls and monitor are designed to keep the surgeon in a relaxed, focused position at all times.

Finally, additional video screens link in the rest of the surgical team by providing a two-dimensional view of what the surgeon is looking at through the da Vinci’s stereoptic monitor.