Arizona doctors introduce new hysterectomy procedure

Here’s big news for Arizona Women! On Friday, Aug. 16, two Arizona surgeons will be performing a hysterectomy at Arrowhead Hospital unlike any ever done before in the state.

Drs. Ivor Benjamin and Dennis Scribner of Arizona Center for Cancer Care will do the first single-site gynecological robotic surgery using the da Vinci Si robot. That means only one incision — in the belly button and no bigger than an inch for the entire surgery! Compare that to three to five incisions.

Benjamin said this type of robotic surgery holds great promise for women.

“It will be cosmetically more appealing to women to only have a single incision in their belly button,” he said. “We should see a decrease in the amount of pain and a quicker, more speedy recovery.”

Benjamin and Scribner are only the 27th and 28th surgeons in the world, respectively, trained to do this type of surgery, and the only ones in Arizona at all.

Benjamin, an oncologist, said his plans are to expand the use of the single-site surgery to include gynecologic cancers, which should mean a faster recovery time and the ability for patients to get chemotherapy and radiation faster, increasing a woman’s odds of beating the disease!

Many thanks to Dr. Benjamin for letting us have a look behind the scenes.