Surgery
General Information

Baptist Medical Center Downtown is recognized by the community for our health care leadership. More than 31,000 surgeries are performed each year in Baptist medical facilities including the surgical specialties listed below.

Cardiovascular Surgery Children's Surgery Services Ear Nose Throat (ENT) Services General Surgery Hand Surgery Neurosurgery

Ophthalmology Orthopaedic Surgery Plastic Surgery Urology Women's Services

Minimally Invasive Medicine and Surgery (MIMS)
Baptist Health supports the healing environment by making available advanced-trained physicians and staff to provide alternative choices that may be discussed as possibilities of treatment between the patient and their referring physician. Minimally invasive procedures present an alternative to open surgical procedures. Advancement in technology now allows procedures to be performed through a natural opening or a small "keyhole" incision. Often called "band-aid surgery", minimally invasive procedures promote less pain, shorter hospital stays, faster return to normal activities and less scarring. The ability to see inside the body has been made possible through advanced video imaging technology and improved instrumentation.

Surgeons are able to perform the most complex procedures by watching the movements of the instruments inside the body on video monitors positioned in the procedure room. The physicians at Baptist Medical Center Downtown have extensive experience performing complex minimally invasive procedures in all regions of the body.

Types of Minimally Invasive Surgeries

Cardiology Cardiovascular Surgery General Surgery Gastroenterology Services Gynecological Surgery

Interventional Radiology Services Neurosurgery Ophthalmic Surgery Orthopaedic Surgery

Listed below are descriptions of a few of the minimally invasive procedures performed at Baptist Health facilities:

Neurosurgery techniques such as laminotomy, laminectomy and fusion procedures are routinely performed using minimally invasive techniques. They are done through small incisions typically measuring from one-half inch to an inch in length in which nerves are decompressed, bones are fused and stabilizing rods, screws or plates are placed into the spine. These techniques employ muscle-splitting techniques which preserve muscular attachments to the spine and avoid cutting of muscle as with more traditional techniques. Neurosurgeons with Baptist have pioneered many of these techniques.

Another neurosurgery technique that is minimally invasive includes dynamic stabilization, a lumbar spine implant for patients with back or leg pain that preserves the motion and may allow for disk regeneration. Currently, physicians are also using computer-assisted neurosurgery techniques to perform less invasive and more accurate cranial surgery. This techique is known as neuronavigation and allows the surgeon to be guided through his instruments by computer tracking as seen through the pre-operative MRI scans or CT scans. Baptist neurosurgeons also employ these techinques for certain lumbar spinal surgeries.

The da Vinci® Surgical System makes it possible to convert complex procedures in a broad range of surgical specialties from open surgeries to those using minimally invasive techniques. These include adult and pediatric urology procedures.

Physicians at Baptist Medical Center Downtown can endoscopically evaluate and treat disorders of the small intestine, which were previously inaccessible without invasive surgery. The double balloon endoscopy technology effectively stretches the small intestine between two balloons, allowing the physician to examine and treat the entire length.

The minimally invasive alternative to total knee replacement spares muscles and tendons cut during traditional surgery. Using modified techniques and instruments, the surgeon can place the same clinically proven implants used in traditional surgery, but through a much smaller incision and without cutting through key tendons and muscles.

The introduction of the Imaging Capsule in the Gastroenterology Lab (GE Lab) allows the patient to continue about their normal activity while the tiny capsule that was swallowed the day before documents its passage through the small intestine. Taking two pictures a second, approximately 50,000 images are beamed to a device worn around the patient's waist. In the near future, gastroenterologists will be able to perform the same procedure with dissolving capsule endoscopy in patients with severe irritable bowel disease.

Special techniques used in the head and neck area include the image-guided endoscopic sinus surgical procedure that utilizes advanced technology to improve visualization and treatment for appropriate patients. Special CAT (Computed Tomography) scans are used to build a computer-generated, three-dimensional image of the sinuses. Using the 3-D model, surgeons can increase the precision of surgery, lessening the operative time and potential risks. This method allows for quicker recovery because surgeons can make smaller and fewer incisions in many cases.

Surgical Facilities
The Baptist Health offers a full range of surgical specialties through a current total of 55 operating rooms.

Surgical Facilities by Location Location Number of Suites Baptist Medical Center Downtown 14 suites Baptist Heart Hospital 3 cardiac suites Baptist Medical Center Nassau 4 suites Baptist Medical Center Beaches 7 suites Baptist Medical Center South 6 suites Wolfson Children's Hospital (WCH) 8 suites BMC-WCH Outpatient Surgery Center 5 suites Jacksonville Orthopaedic Institute 3 suites Ambulatory Surgery Unit - Women's Pavilion 5 suites