Early on the morning of Dec. 23, 2022, Dr. Majed Jandali performed his 3000th surgical procedure using robotic technology and the surgical equipment of the da Vinci robot. The procedure was the removal of a patient’s gallbladder and gallstones known as a cholecystectomy. “The procedure was difficult, but I was able to do it safely and efficiently in about 15 minutes without any complications,” Dr. Jandali reported following the surgery.
Dr. Jandali is a Froedtert South general surgeon who has been performing surgical procedures with the assistance of da Vinci robots since 2015. Earlier this autumn he had reached the benchmark of 2,700 surgical procedures with the robots. Most of Dr. Jandali’s surgeries are to the abdominal cavity for hernia repair, colon cancer or polyps, rectal cancer, and gall bladder surgeries. “I also perform many bariatric surgeries to reduce the size of a patient’s stomach, promoting weight loss,” he said. Although the robotic platform has not changed much in the past few years, use of the technology has increased as surgeons have mastered it, says Dr. Jandali.
Today “all minimally invasive general surgery at Froedtert South is done utilizing the robotic platform,” Dr. Jandali said. “The staff is well trained, and we can use it 24/7 including weekends, nights and holidays.”
Dr. Jandali celebrating his 3,000 robotic procedure
Dr. Jandali’s success with surgical robotic technology has convinced him the surgical robot is an integral tool of the surgical trade. “I consistently see the tremendous benefits of robotic assisted surgery for my patients,” he said. The advantages of the technology include the ability of a surgeon to address more complex medical procedures and for patients to experience reduced pain following surgery, he notes. Dr. Jandali’s achievement of his 3000th robotically assisted surgery was marked with a cake presented by Alex Wantoch, a representative of Intuitive, the manufacturer of the da Vinci robot used in these procedures.
According to Wantoch, there are fewer than 50 surgeons nationwide that have performed this number of robotic surgeries. “Dr. Jandali performs more cases in one month than most surgeons achieve in five or six months,” Wantoch said. To achieve these numbers within this timeframe means that Dr. Jandali’s caseload is much higher than many other surgeons, noted a Froedtert South administrator.
“Reaching the 3000th robotic procedure makes me very happy that I was able to introduce and implement the state-of-the-art surgical care for my patients and our community,” he said.
Froedtert South has been committed to robotic assisted surgery for over a decade. It is one of just five surgical centers in Wisconsin with three or more surgical robots. The robotic assisted surgical center is also one of 30 nationwide that brings general surgeons from across the country to observe Froedtert South surgeons perform robotic assisted surgeries.
“I am among the 25 busiest robotic assisted general surgeons in the country using the state of-the-art da Vinci Xi surgical robots,” notes Dr. Jandali. “The commitment of administration and operating room staff as well as my belief in using technology as a way of improving surgical outcomes is the reason for the high volume I do at Froedtert South.”