Christian Hospital Performs 500th Robotic Thoracic Surgery!

Christian Hospital’s robotic surgery program has achieved another milestone with the 500^th robotic thoracic surgery, performed with the skillful team of Washington University cardiothoracic surgeons Varun Puri, MD, and Nabil Munfakh, MD, on Dec. 1, 2021. Ray Shuddhadeb, MD, from the team also utilizes this technology at Christian Hospital, which is the first hospital in the St. Louis region to reach this threshold of robotic thoracic surgeries.

"I am proud that Christian was the first hospital in the St. Louis area to use this innovative minimally invasive technology to resect tumors of the chest and allow patients to recover faster from their surgery,” says Dr. Munfakh, medical director of cardiothoracic surgery at Christian Hospital. “I am also proud that our team of surgeons and OR staff has built the biggest experience in performing these complex cases in the St Louis metro area."

“This achievement is testimony to the dedication and commitment of our Washington University cardiothoracic surgery team to provide the most advanced technology and treatment to the North County community,” says Rick Stevens, president of Christian Hospital. “We can all take pride in this momentous accomplishment.”

Robotic thoracic surgery is minimally invasive lung & chest surgery utilizing the robotic system, which does not function autonomously, but rather translates the exact motions of the surgeon's hands to miniature tools on the end of slim instruments inserted through puncture incisions in-between the patient's ribs. Consequently, the surgeon is able to perform complex operations entirely within the patient's chest cavity that previously required a large incision and spreading of ribs.  

Since robotic thoracic surgery is essentially a closed procedure performed through port incisions without rib spreading, the patient typically is afforded many of the following benefits: less tissue trauma, less pain, shorter hospital stay, faster return to normal activity, lower blood loss and decreased scarring.

Christian Hospital made health care history when it performed the St. Louis region’s first robotic full-lung lobectomy in 2011 to successfully treat lung cancer. Christian Hospital has performed more than 2,380 robotic surgical procedures in a variety of specialties over the past decade.

PHOTO: Robotic thoracic surgery team members include, from left: Dr. Ali Eldin (anesthesia); Tracey Bowman, RN; Ben Meydam, RN; Dr. Varun Puri; Becky Edwards, RN; Yanjun Li, RN; Dr. Nabil Munfakh; and Asmir Selimovic.