Wisconsin doctor leading the way in robotic surgeries world wide

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If someone were to ask you which hospital is leading the way when it comes to robotic surgeries in the world, you might guess it would be based in a major city.

But, the answer is right in our own backyard, in Ozaukee County.

It’s all happening at the Aurora Medical Center in Grafton. It’s a surgical system that allows doctors to operate through small incisions for things like head, neck, and cardiac surgery.

“Maybe not all of your patients are afraid but I am,” says Michelle Hoffman, a recovering surgery patient.

“Surgery is usually a landmark in a person’s life,” says Dr. Bill Tisol, surgeon with Aurora Medical.

For Michelle Hoffman, it was a lifesaving procedure, a lobectomy surgery which removed part of her lung because of a cancer diagnosis.

“We had found out I had a tumor on my lung,” explains Michelle. “I will tell you I was scared to death but this team made me feel so comfortable, so relaxed.”

For the past eight years, Doctor Tisol and his team at Aurora Medical Center in Grafton have done approximately 700 surgeries, using the Davinci Robot that has instruments that bend and rotate further than the human hand.

For these operations, the doctor actually sits away from the patient, controlling the robot while looking at a monitor.

More than 200 surgeries were performed by Dr. Tisol in Aurora’s centers between April and June, the most in the world for minimally invasive robotic procedures.

“It’s a truly a team effort,” says Tisol. “This doesn’t happen because of my efforts, it’s an entire group of people that work together and they work very well together.”

Within a few days of her surgery Michelle was back to work with her husband on their crop consulting business.

“We’re so lucky right here in Wisconsin to have this kind of teamwork and technology,” says Michelle’s husband as he thanked Dr. Tisol.

Doctors and their teams come from all over the world to learn from the doctor’s microscopic procedures and see the group at work.

Dr. Tisol says robotic surgeries tend to be a popular option because of their quick recovery time, fewer pain medications after surgery, and smaller scars.

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