Essentia Health St. Mary’s-Detroit Lakes offering new robotic surgical option

Essentia Health St. Mary's-Detroit Lakes celebrated the introduction of the ROSA Knee System at an event on Tuesday evening, June 9. The ROSA system will enable additional minimally invasive robot-assisted surgeries that improve patient outcomes and reduce recovery times.

"We are excited to offer this cutting-edge technology to our community," said Dr. Om Prakash Sharma, an orthopedic surgeon at Essentia. "This robotic-assisted technology is proven to reduce complications, decrease the length of hospital stays and decrease pain and the need for pain medicine after a procedure."

The ROSA system – a robotic surgical assistant – uses data collected before and during surgery to inform the surgeon about a patient's unique anatomy, which may affect an implant’s fit. By using real-time data, the surgeon can plan for and carry out a customized operation, resulting in the most precise knee replacements.

The addition of the ROSA system was made possible by the Essentia Health St. Mary's-Detroit Lakes Foundation.

The ROSA system is the latest robotic surgical system introduced at Essentia Health St. Mary's-Detroit Lakes. Surgeries using the da Vinci Xi Surgical System began in March 2024.

Benefits of robotic surgery include:

• Reduced post-surgery pain.
• Less blood loss.
• Fewer and smaller scars.
• Faster recovery.
• Shorter hospital stays.
• Less risk of infection.
• More surgical precision.

Essentia Health is committed to staying at the forefront of surgical expertise and providing cutting-edge technology closer to home for our patients.

"The challenges facing healthcare — especially in rural communities — have been well documented," said Cole Helbling, senior operations director at Essentia Health St. Mary's-Detroit Lakes. "Which makes this kind of investment even more special. At Essentia, we are committed to doing everything we can to improve patient care, and this is another example of that."