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Doctors from four Latin American countries recently came to Methodist Dallas Medical Center to
learn about the robotic Whipple surgery from Alejandro Mejia, MD (second from right).
What’s a
Whipple?
During the Whipple, formally called
a pancreaticoduodenectomy, the
surgeon typically removes the
gallbladder, part of the bile duct, the
top part of the small intestine, a small
portion of the stomach, the head of the
pancreas, and the nearby lymph nodes.
The surgeon then reconnects the
remaining pancreas and bile duct to the
intestine to restore digestive function.
From
around the world, surgeons
are traveling to Methodist Dallas
Medical Center to learn from Alejandro
Mejia, MD, FACS, general surgeon. Thanks
to Dr. Mejia’s expertise, the hospital is now
home to Intuitive Surgical’s newly appointed
General Surgery Epicenter, with a special
focus on liver and pancreatic procedures with
Intuitive’s robotic da Vinci® Surgical System.
“Robot-assisted surgery is a true
innovation in the field of minimally
invasive surgery,” Dr. Mejia says. “Now
we are able to put the tools in the hands
of talented surgeons to enhance their
skill and advance the field more than
ever before.”
Proven excellence
Da Vinci robot–assisted surgery is an
advanced alternative to traditional open
surgery that significantly reduces the
patient’s pain, scarring, and recovery
AT THE CENTER OF ROBOTIC TECHNOLOGY
To learn more about da Vinci, visit
MethodistHealthSystem.org/DaVinci.
Methodist Dallas is now a national center for surgeons training in robotic surgery
time while offering the surgeon greater
operating precision than ever before.
To receive the epicenter designation from
Intuitive Surgical, Dr. Mejia was required
to pass a series of rigorous standards
to fully demonstrate his proficiency in
robotic surgery techniques. He also had
to show how these techniques could be
teachable, reproducible, and effective.
Dr. Mejia passed with flying colors.
With great skill he performed
demanding procedures, like the Whipple,
which may be one of the most time- and
skill-intensive procedures a surgeon can
perform and is integral in saving the lives
of pancreatic cancer patients.
This is a procedure Dr. Mejia has
mastered. He performed the first robotic
Whipple in North Texas in 2013 and has
since done more than any other surgeon in
the state. Just as patients from across the
southern U.S. have come to him for the
robotic Whipple, now surgeons are coming
to learn how to do it themselves.
What does it mean for you?
“It’s exciting for us to be the site of a
General Surgery Epicenter,” Dr. Mejia
says. “It shows not only that Methodist
Dallas is one of the most trusted places to
receive da Vinci surgery, but also that we’ll
continue to stand at the forefront of new
robotic techniques and technologies.”
So when you come to Methodist Dallas
for a da Vinci procedure, you can trust
that you’re in good hands — maybe the
best the world has to offer.
Methodist Dallas Medical Center
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❁
Fall 2015
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THE SURGEON’S
SURGEON