HJBR Mar/Apr 2024

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE  I  MAR / APR 2024 41 Daryl Marx, MD General Surgeon Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center • SmartFire technology can adjust the stapling and sealing mechanisms to account for tissue thickness and alert the surgeon if recalibration is needed. • UV light technology on the endo- scope, called Firefly, uses fluores- cence and 3DHD imaging to illumi- nate the details surgeons can see with real-time visualizations so they can better detect blood flow and possible leakage during surgery. • The use of gastric tubes is not often required, meaning patients are usu- ally up and moving around later the same day and back home the follow- ing day with normal bowel function and diet. • Because the procedure is minimally invasive and requires less recovery time, less narcotics are needed, aid- ing in the recovery and helping to not disrupt a patient’s normal medica- tion regimen, such as chemotherapy drugs. • The minimally invasive nature of such procedures also ensures that there’s less risk of infection, and thus a reduced chance for readmission af- ter a procedure. • The hernia risk after open-surgery operations is about 25%. Robotic sur- IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT COLORECTAL CANCER: • It’s one of the most common forms of cancer, affecting both men and women, but thanks to screenings, it’s also one of the most preventable cancers. • Colorectal cancer develops in either the colon or the rectum, and it usually starts as a polyp or small growth. • Because those polyps develop so slow- ly, they can be detected with screen- ings and removed before they become something more serious. • In contrast, because they develop so slowly, it can also take years for them to show symptoms, such as blood in the stool or pain in the pelvis — another reason why screening is so important. • Older age, a family history of colorectal cancer, and a personal history of polyps in previous colonoscopies can increase your risk for colorectal cancer. • A poor diet — one that’s low in fiber, high in fat — can increase your risk, as can a sedentary lifestyle and smoking and alcohol use. • In recent years, doctors have lowered the suggested screening age from 50 to 45 years old because of increased cases among younger adults. • The best way to check for colorectal cancer? Set up a screening, otherwise known as a colonoscopy, with your pri- mary care provider. gery cuts that risk down to zero. • The average operating time is an hour and 20 minutes versus about two to three hours for open surgery. While open surgery is still necessary for larger tumors that require larger incisions or more aggressive tumors that might require resectioning of other structures, robotic surgery offers unparalleled surgical outcomes for most colorectal cancer cases. It’s becoming the preferred method and innovative way forward for surgical care and continues to provide new and exciting opportunities to improve patient outcomes while expanding what surgical teams are able to achieve. Robotic surgery truly is the future of surgery for colorectal cancer cases and so many other surgical needs. n Daryl Marx, MD, is a general surgeon specializing in general, bariatric, and robotic-assisted surgery. He is a diplomate of theAmerican Board of Surgery, is board-certified by the American College of Sur- geons, and is a fellow of the Society of Laparoscopic Surgeons. Marx is the No.1 robotic surgeon in the South based on da Vinci surgical statistics and has performed over 4,000 robotic cases. He received a Doctor of Medicine from and completed surgical internship and residency at Louisiana State University School of Medicine in NewOrleans.Marx completed a fellowship in advanced laparoscopic surgery at LSU Medical Center in Shreveport in conjunction withWil- lis Knighton Medical Center.