The Maxine and Stuart Frankel Foundation Computer-Assisted Robot-Enhanced Surgery Program

Children's Hospital of Michigan is the first pediatric facility in the world to offer an integrated computer-assisted robot-enhanced surgery program dedicated to children. The Maxine and Stuart Frankel Foundation Computer-Assisted Robot-Enhanced Surgery (CARES) Program benefits our patients by allowing surgeons to develop and perform more complex minimally invasive procedures that result in significantly less pain, trauma and recovery time.

Working in partnership with Intuitive Surgical of Sunnyvale, California and the College of Engineering at Wayne State University, Children's Hospital doctors and researchers have helped to develop the first application for surgical robots uniquely designed for minimally invasive operations on small bodies. Unlike current minimally invasive surgical techniques, which limit a surgeon's dexterity, computer-assisted robot-enhanced surgery provides precise control of the surgical instruments while eliminating hand tremor. This technology allows the use of finer instruments that are better suited to a young child's size, resulting in smaller incisions that heal faster, with fewer complications.

On January 17, 2002, Children's doctors made medical history by successfully completing the nation's first computer-assisted robot-enhanced surgery to take place at a pediatric hospital. The operation, a Nissen Fundoplication, surgically corrected gastro esophageal reflux disease (GERD), which causes painful heartburn and can result in serious damage to the esophagus, including cancer. During the next five years, Children's Hospital will continue its leadership by developing and gaining FDA approval for robotic surgical procedures that are currently unavailable to children, including complex brain, chest and abdominal operations and fetal surgery.