FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 21, 2006
CONTACT: Tom Hanley, Public Relations Director
860.545.9954 or pager 860.220.3562 

“CCMC PHYSICIAN FIRST TO PERFORM ROBOTIC SURGERY ON CHILDREN“

HARTFORD, Conn.— Dr. Christina Kim, a pediatric urologist at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, has recently performed the first two robotic surgeries on children in Connecticut. Robotic surgery is a new and innovative option with many exciting elements. Currently, its primary limitation is accessibility. With less than ten children’s hospitals owning a robot, there is limited availability. Dr. Kim is the only pediatric urologist in Connecticut performing robotic surgery on children, using the DaVinci robot at nearby Hartford Hospital.

Most commonly, the DaVinci robot is used to perform prostate surgery on adults. To date, Dr. Kim has performed two robotic procedures, called a pyeloplasty, which reconstructed the drainage system of the kidney on her two young patients. This has been successful in both a 14-year-old patient and a 3-year-old patient. It is a viable option for children of all ages.

Dr. Kim trained on a DaVinci robotic system at Boston Children’s Hospital, observing several cases, and training on pigs. She also did training at Hartford Hospital in its Simulation Center.

Although Dr. Kim is an expert in minimally invasive surgery (commonly known as laparoscopic surgery) the advantage of the robotic surgery device is that it allows a 3-dimensional image inside the patient. Dr. Kim sits at a remote console looking through a binocular scope, and operates two joystick-like devices, and foot pedals, to manipulate the robotic arms performing the surgery.

Another advantage of the robotic device is that it provides much more precision and range of motion as compared to laparoscopic surgery. Of course, because of the smaller incisions, the recovery time is much shorter that for traditional open surgery and the cosmetic results are more favorable.

For a typical open pyeloplasty repair of the kidney, the patient would be in the hospital one to four days, and would be restricted from normal activity for about 3 weeks during recovery. For the robotic surgery patient, the patient is in the hospital for one day, and able to resume normal activity in a week, Dr. Kim said.

Her first robotic surgery patient was 3-year-old Saviyon Dawson of Hartford. His father, Randy Dawson, said about robotic surgery for his son, “I was nervous about it at first, but was receptive to the idea. He didn’t even need any pain meds after. He was home one day after the surgery and we are very happy with the results.”

Dr. Kim is investigating robotic surgery for use also in bladder reconstruction, for the treatment of reflux, (in which urine drains backwards into the kidney) for partial removal of diseased kidney and for the treatment of kidney stones.

An Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Dr. Kim joined the staff of Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in 2004. She earned her undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Kim conducted her internship and residency in Surgery and Urology at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and completed a fellowship in Pediatric Urology at the University of Pittsburgh.