Local surgeon cures rare disease with robot

An engineer from Uruguay traveled across the globe to save the use of his arm.

Traveling across the globe for a surgery is what one man did to save the use of his arm. Now, a local surgeon is curing the rare disease with the help of a robot. Monday marked the 141st surgery that's giving patients a second chance.

Federico Bonsignore is an engineer from Uruguay. Today, he's recovering at Toledo hospital after his second life changing surgery. "I was a little bit nervous because nobody knew what was happening to me," says Bonsignore.

He suffers from thoracic outlet syndrome, a rare disease that effects arm and hand movement. Those with the disease are born with an extra rib near the base of the neck. Over time, the rib puts pressure on the vein, artery and nerve leading to the loss of motor skills in the hand. "On my left side, I started losing strength and I also started to feel numbness and weird things in my left arm," explains Bonsignore.

That's when he found dr. Bernardo Martinez, the only vascular surgeon in the United States that specializes in TOS endoscopic surgery. Dr. Martinez uses Davinci, a robot that allows him to work in very small spaces without invasive surgery. Dr. Martinez says, "My hands, instead of 90mm or 9 cm of my hand, is automatically transposed into a 5mm hand and I have the freedom to do all the motions that my hands can do as a surgeon."

The 3-D machine gives the doctor full control and leaves the patient with only a few small incisions. Martinez started using Davinci back in 2003, and successfully stopped the progression of TOS in Federico's left arm in 2004. And on Monday, Dr. Martinez completed the right arm. The surgery required a long flight, but the recovery is quick, and for Federico after 6 years with TOS today is a new beginning. "Finally I could stop this and I think this closes a chapter," he says.

Federico is expected to be discharged by tomorrow. Then he's off to the Ronald McDonald House to recuperate before he flies back to Uruguay next week.

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