LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) -- Fluorescence Imaging is the latest technology in certain cancer surgery and Baptist Health in Little Rock is one of thirteen places in the country where you will find it.
Jason Leggett of Clarksville is a celebrity of sorts, at least in the medical world. "Turned out I was number seven," he says.
Jason was seventh in the world to have kidney cancer surgery using the da Vinci robotic system and new technology to go with it.
Urologist Dr. Tim Langford with Urology Arkansas is excited to be one of the first to perform surgery using the new system. "This new technology is called auto fluorescence and surgical intuitive has come up with the technology along with some other companies and they chose 13 sites around the country to have this technology available."
Baptist Health is one of them. The system uses dyes that light up the bodies organs, but turns the cancer white which Langford says is a great help during surgery.
"The most important thing is when we start cutting into the kidney we can actually see green and white so we know to keep a rim of green tissue on the tumor that way we're getting the tumor out we're taking out as little kidney tissue as possible. And I knew it was going to make a difference in Jason's case. It really gives us a blueprint as a surgeon to know, to get exactly what we're getting."
Langford told Jason they were able to get all of his cancer, which was caught quite by accident to begin with. He went to his doctor with pain in his abdomen and his nurse insisted on an ultrasound. "And it showed up a mass on my right kidney, totally unrelated to the pain so it was just luck."
Before da Vinci and this fluorescence imaging surgery the norm would have been to remove the entire kidney. Doctor Langford says this new procedure makes surgery easier on doctors and patients.
"What that means for the patients like Jason is less bleeding, less pain, quicker recovery, shorter hospitalization and getting them back to work and normal activity quicker."
So what is Jason's prognosis? Langford says, "His prognosis is excellent."