The Robotic Surgery Revolution:
Transforming Thoracic Care
Despite their incredible skill, surgeons with the steadiest hands can still experience microscopic tremors while they are operating. These tremors may not be visible to the naked eye, but they can cause slight inaccuracies in the tissue that the surgeon removes.
Thoracic surgery is a type of operation done on organs in the chest and upper abdomen, such as the esophagus, lungs, and trachea. Traditionally, thoracic surgeries often involve removing large portions of these organs or even removing them entirely.
Even in cases where whole organs don’t have to be removed, surgeons must remove enough tissue to make room for their own hands and tools during an operation. In other words, some healthy tissue must be removed before a surgeon can remove the cancerous tissue.
With the aid of robotics, surgeons can achieve far greater precision.
When it comes to removing cancerous cells from major organs, any inaccuracies, no matter how small, can have large effects on patient outcomes. Surgical robots offer a level of precision that is simply not possible for humans and can be used to remove more of a patient’s cancerous tissue while preserving as much healthy tissue as possible.
Robotic tools can also enter much smaller spaces than human hands can, so the incisions that surgeons make don’t have to be as large when compared to the same operations without the use of robotics. By not having to make space for hands within tissues like a lung, surgeons can use robotics to minimize patients’ blood loss, risks of infection, levels of pain, and time required to heal.
“In these procedures, the surgeons control the robot as a kind of surgical tool, as if it’s an extension of their own hands,” explained Dr. Waël Hanna, a thoracic surgeon and researcher at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton (pictured right).
A pioneer in the development of several cutting-edge robotic surgeries, Dr. Hanna is a national leader in this field. He and his team are dedicated to advancing research and innovation within thoracic surgery.
Traditional operations for thoracic conditions tend to be quite invasive and pose a large array of risks and complications, but Dr. Hanna has used robotics to transform the landscape of this care and minimize the risks of these procedures, developing operations that were long believed to be impossible.
Clinician-researchers, including Dr. Hanna and others, have found that robotic surgery is associated with fewer patient complications. Since complications may require blood transfusions, pharmaceutical drugs including opioids and antibiotics, and even subsequent operations and extended hospital stays, these findings demonstrate a cost savings for healthcare organizations and quality of life benefits for patients.
In the fall of 2024, our Hospital reached a remarkable milestone by treating the 1000th patient to receive this type of surgery.
Watch the video below to learn more about this milestone!
Expanding Access to Innovative Robotic Surgeries
Although highly innovative, robotic surgery is still not widely funded. St. Joe’s offers 10 different robotic surgeries, yet only 3 of them are funded by OHIP – the other 7 are reliant on philanthropy to ensure that patients can access this innovative care. Through the help of our donors, St. Joe’s has been able to provide these 7 life-changing robotic surgeries, one of which is performed by thoracic surgeons like Dr. Hanna.
St. Joe’s journey in robotic surgery began in 2011 when the Marta & Owen Boris Foundation made a $5 million gift that brought the world’s most advanced surgical robot at the time, the Da Vinci Si, to our operating room.
Two years later, the Marta & Owen Boris Foundation made another $5 million donation that made our Hospital the home of the first comprehensive robotic surgery centre in Canada. This gift expanded surgeries to include procedures of the head, neck, chest, and kidneys.
In recognition of this large contribution, St. Joe’s named the Boris Family Centre for Robotic Surgery. Many additional donors have supported the program and provided invaluable funding for several robotic technologies, procedures, and research.
Recently, Dr. Se-In Choe joined St. Joe’s as one of its first female robotic surgeons after completing the Lung Transplant and ECLS Fellowship at University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto. During this fellowship, Dr. Choe made history as part of the first all-female led lung transplant surgery ever performed in Canada.
“I am proud to be part of a hospital that values both innovation and human connection,” said Dr. Choe (pictured right). “Robotic surgery has really changed how we care for our patients. The technology gives us incredible precision, and we’re able to do complex procedures through small incisions, which means patients recover faster and with less pain.”
In February 2025, Dr. Choe performed her first robotic lung cancer surgery at our Hospital.
Fundraising for the Future of Robotic Surgery
St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation recently announced a fundraising campaign to raise $20 million to continue offering robotic surgery to patients. The Foundation has already raised over half of their goal thanks to various major donors, including John Ribson, a businessowner whose bladder cancer was treated at St. Joe’s.
Through this fundraising campaign, the Hospital plans to double its volume of robotic procedures so they can help more patients, discover new procedures and continue investigating the power and the promise of robotic surgery.
“Our robotic surgery journey has demonstrated the remarkable things that are made possible by philanthropy,” said Dr. Mike Heenan, president of St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. “It has the unique power to fuel innovative programs and research that, in time, can change clinical practice, improve healthcare policy, and influence funding models, too. And more importantly, it can be the catalyst to adopt new approaches that are changing, improving and saving the lives of the patients St. Joe’s is honoured to serve.”
To learn more and make a donation, please visit the Foundation website.