Gift creates robotic surgery training center at MVH

A Dayton-area businessman’s donation will fund the opening of a center to train doctors in robotic surgery techniques at Miami Valley Hospital.

Hospital officials hope The Brethen Center for Surgical Advancement in Robotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery will open by Thanksgiving. The center is named in honor of Robert Brethen, a Kettering resident and the chairman and CEO of Celstar Group, Inc., a Dayton-based holding company. The donation was made through the Miami Valley Hospital Foundation.

Premier Health Partners, which owns Miami Valley Hospital, announced the “major” gift Wednesday, but did not specify an amount.

“It is a pleasure to help the hospital provide enhanced, innovative medical care for people throughout the region,” Brethen said.

The center, he said, will help carry the technology and less invasive techniques “for patients across the country and around the world.”

Initially, the center will be used to train surgical residents at Miami Valley Hospital and other surgeons within the Premier Health Partners network, said Dr. Keith Watson, who will oversee training gynecology residents at the center. The hospital trains six obstetrics and gynecology residents a year, as well as residents in general surgery. In total, the center will train 20 to 25 surgeons a year. Eventually, it will be opened up to train surgeons from other systems, hospital officials said.

Miami Valley Hospital was the first in the region to offer robotic surgery, beginning in 2006. The technology, which utilizes small incisions using tiny instruments, means smaller incisions, less blood loss, faster healing time, less pain and less risk of infection for patients, Watson said.

He called the center “a marvelous opportunity” for patients and clinicians.

The new center adds a fourth DaVinci surgical robot system to Miami Valley Hospital. Atrium Medical Center and Good Samaritan Hospital also have robotic surgery.

Miami Valley Hospital performs about 800 robotic procedures a year, including gynecological procedures, urological procedures and gallbladder removals. Heart procedures, including valve replacements and open heart procedures, will be added to the lineup “in the near future,” said hospital spokeswoman Nancy Thickel.

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