Scarless gallbladder surgery performed at Sinai Hospital

Yassar Youssef, M.D., is the first surgeon in Baltimore City to perform gallbladder surgery using just one incision and the da Vinci® Surgical System. Because the single incision of about an inch is made in the patient's navel, he or she is left without a noticeable scar.

Additional patient benefits are less pain, less blood loss and a faster recovery compared even with minimally invasive gallbladder removal that requires multiple incisions. This is good news for the one million Americans who need their gallbladders removed each year, most of whom are candidates for this single-site, robotic approach.

"Neither robotic surgery or single-incision surgery is new, but combining the two to remove the gallbladder requires special training and equipment," says Youssef. "To be one of the first hospitals to offer this technically advanced surgery demonstrates Sinai Hospital's leadership in providing patients with the most up-to-date minimally invasive surgical options."

More than any other hospital in Maryland, Sinai Hospital has made technologic investments in its da Vinci Surgical System; in addition to having da Vinci Single-Site™ instruments that enable Youssef to perform gallbladder removal, the hospital has two da Vinci units, an extra console allowing two surgeons to operate in tandem on a patient, and other advanced instruments. Sinai's sister hospital, Northwest, also has its own da Vinci Surgical System. Youssef has plans to train other surgeons on the da Vinci, including those in Sinai's surgical residency program.