DETROIT -- Local 4 joined Henry Ford Hospital doctors on Thursday they performed an ORLive Webcast of a partial nephrectomy on a kidney tumor patient, using a breakthrough, minimally invasive robotic device, called the da Vinci Surgical System .

Dr. Craig Rogers, director of Robotic Renal Surgery at Henry Ford Hospital and Director of Urologic Oncology at Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital, performed the procedure using the da Vinci Surgical System, while Dr. James Peabody, senior staff surgeon of the Vattikuti Urology Institute, moderated the event and explained critical portions of the surgery.

The da Vinci partial nephrectomy approach is to surgically remove kidney tumors while preserving healthy renal tissue necessary for normal kidney function.

The conventional way to remove kidney tumors is with an open incision. Most of the time, doctors choose to remove the entire kidney, rather than only the diseased portion due to the limitations of conventional laparoscopic technology and the complexity of the operation.

One of the biggest challenges in performing a traditional partial nephrectomy procedure is that the surgeon must remove the tumor and reconstruct the kidney in less than 30 minutes in order to preserve normal kidney function.

The da Vinci's high-definition 3D vision system and ergonomic design provide unsurpassed visualization, surgical dexterity and control, according to health officials. This allows the surgeon to perform all the steps of a partial nephrectomy -- including careful dissection, tumor identification and excision, and renal capsule reconstruction -- with far greater surgical precision, ease and efficiency compared to conventional laparoscopy.

In addition, the da Vinci partial nephrectomy offers patients the potential for shorter hospital stays (1.5 day versus 4 days), significantly less post-operative pain, less blood loss, fewer complications, a quicker recovery, and less scarring due to small incisions, Rogers said.

Rogers said the da Vinci partial nephrectomy can provide patients with "an outstanding cancer operation with maximum potential for normal kidney function."