St. Joseph Hospital’s surgical team has acquired a level of expertise in using the da Vinci surgical robot that has made local and national headlines. They have successfully performed more than 625 cases in the past four years. In fact, St. Joseph Hospital is a leader in the state of California in robotically assisted surgeries for a variety of specialty areas for children and adults:
In 2005, St. Joseph Hospital surgeons performed the first robotically assisted bladder cancer procedure in Orange County. Only 11 other hospitals in the world have attempted such a complex surgery.
In 2005, Mustafa Kabeer, M.D., and Vinh Lam, M.D., performed the first pediatric lung resection in the country.
In 2004, St. Joseph Hospital surgeons performed the county’s first robotically assisted open heart procedure.
In 2003, Ashok Kar, M.D., and Fred Khonsari, M.D., performed the first robotically assisted laproscopic radical prostatectomy. This was the first time such a procedure was successfully performed in a community hospital in Southern California.
In 2003 using the da Vinci robot , St. Joseph Hospital surgeons Marc Zepeda, M.D., and Randy Fiorentino, M.D., made national news when they performed the first robotically assisted hysterectomy in the United States.
As director of the St. Joseph Hospital Robotics Program, Ashok Kar, M.D., has been featured on local and national television and has been an invited speaker for local, national and international urology meetings.