HAIFA, Thursday, December 23, 2010 -- Rambam Health Care Campus has joined the vanguard of world-class hospitals performing operations by means of the da Vinci surgical robot. Dr. David Samadi, who is considered the world's leading expert in the removal of prostate tumors, used the da Vinci robot acquired by Rambam to perform the medical center's first procedure of this sort. Research indicates a shorter length of stay and excellent chance of retaining sexual function after undergoing robotically assisted prostate surgery. A 72-year-old Haifa resident suffering from prostate cancer has made history twice today: he is both the first patient in the OR at Rambam to have undergone a prostatectomy by means of a sophisticated $2.6M robot, and the first patient in Israel to be operated upon by the world's leading surgeon in the removal of prostate tumors -- Dr. David Samadi. The operation aroused great excitement among Rambam's surgeons, who watched it transmitted live to a hospital auditorium. The da Vinci has additional uses, such as gynecological and general surgery, soon to be implemented at Rambam. Among robotic surgery's advantages are fewer infections, no danger of hemorrhaging, and a reduced risk to male sexual functioning. Dr. David Samadi, 43, is among the best-known surgeons in the world. A Persian Jew whose family left Iran at the time of the Islamic Revolution, he was educated in Europe and in the United States. Today, he is Chief of Robotics and Minimally Invasive ...