This year, Warren General Hospital introduced a robotic platform for surgeries.

The da Vinci platform, produced by Intuitive, is designed to perform minimally invasive surgery with robotic aid. The company has more than 7,000 units in use worldwide which have been used in more than 12 million procedures.

Minimally invasive surgery is designed to result in smaller incisions and fewer surgical movements. It is designed to lead to less pain, shorter recovery times and lower risk of infection.

Locally, WGH has performed more than 100 procedures with the aid of the da Vinci system.

Intuitive recently named Dr. Yoko Young Sang a “super user” of the system. The title is given to surgeons who have completed 50 or more system-assisted procedures in a single three-month period. It’s the highest recognition the company gives.

Meanwhile, another of the hospital’s physicians had been gaining experience on the platform at Erie-area hospitals in anticipation of the system’s implementation at WGH, according to WGH Director of Marketing and Communications Mary Ridout.

Ridout also said a third general surgeon who has already completed over 600 procedures is joining the hospital in the spring.