week of 2/25 - 3/3

On February 25th, I went on a mentor visit to the Medical City Plano OR. The surgery I observed was a robotic hysterectomy with removal of both tubes and ovaries, with additional sentinel node mapping and biopsies. The patient’s condition made this surgery her only viable option, as she had been diagnosed with grade 1 endometrial cancer. Node mapping has always fascinated me, and I have seen it performed at least 10 times. So, what exactly is it? Sentinel lymph node mapping is the biopsy of lymph nodes where the endometrial cancer would have likely metastasized, which helps determine further treatment after surgery. My mentor performs this procedure using IC green dye, which I wrote a research assessment on earlier this year. This procedure has the potential to decrease morbidity and optimize the pathologic assessment of identified nodes in women with endometrial cancer.

Lately, Dr. Heffernan has been excited about me getting behind the da Vinci robot and actually using it myself. After docking the robot and inserting the camera, Dr. Heffernan encouraged me to look through the da Vinci console and see what he sees while he operates. This was surreal; I have only ever sat at the console during Intuitive Surgical events, never when an actual patient is at the table! We plan on coming up to Medical City Plano on a weekend once my Final Product is finished and actually testing it out on the da Vinci.

Speaking of my Final Product, we were able to discuss it briefly. My mentor gave me additional ideas regarding the components of my project, all of which I will likely incorporate into what I have already developed to improve its effectiveness and quality. My Final Product is definitely a work in progress, where we chip a little bit off of it from mentor visit to mentor visit. I cannot wait until it is finally complete!