Mountainside Hospital adds da Vinci Xi surgical system, launches contest to name new surgical robot

MONTCLAIR / GLEN RIDGE, NJ — Hackensack Meridian Mountainside Medical Center has launched a contest to name the hospital’s new da Vinci Xi system. The hospital is asking local community members to don their creative thinking caps and suggest a nickname for the robot.

The entry form is available at www.mountainsidehosp.com/robot. The contest is open to all ages and multiple entries per person are acceptable. The contest ends at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, May 31. A panel of judges comprising hospital employees and physicians will choose winners based on creativity and originality. The winner will be contacted, and the winning entry will be announced to the public no later than Friday, June 14. 

The hospital has offered robot-assisted surgeries for a decade. This new da Vinci Xi gives patients a minimally invasive option for general surgery procedures.

“The da Vinci Xi system provides an alternative to open surgery that reduces a patient’s length of stay and lowers the risk of complications associated with open procedures,” hospital CEO Tim O’Brien said. “This advanced technology provides Mountainside with the ability to make minimally invasive surgery our standard of care.”

Other potential benefits of the da Vinci Xi system include shorter hospital stays, less blood loss, faster recovery and smaller incisions associated with minimal scarring.

“One of the benefits of minimally invasive surgery is the decreased amount of scar tissue after surgery,” said Dr. Harvey Rainville, robotic and general surgeon at Mountainside Medical Center. “There tends to be much less scar formation inside of the abdomen after robotic procedures compared to traditional procedures.”

Robotic surgery is available in several subspecialties, including urology, colorectal, gynecology and thoracic surgery.