The robots of Rush Health Systems, based at Rush Foundation Hospital in Meridian, almost look like something from a science fiction novel, with multiple arms or interchangeable parts.

But the doctors of Rush describe them as instruments to improve the lives of patients by making complex surgeries easier.

Dr. James J. Purdy, the medical director of the Robotic Surgery Program for the hospital, uses the daVinci Surgical System to perform hysterectomies or other gynecological surgeries.

Purdy performed the first hysterectomy in the state at Rush on Dec. 9, 2008, making next month the 10-year anniversary of robotics at Rush.

“I had a patient with a uterine mass at 28 weeks — which is how you measure a uterine mass — and we took it out vaginally, rather than abdominally, and she went out the next day,” Purdy said. “It used to be patients stayed 10 days, seven days or five days.”

Tools like the daVinci make the surgery minimally invasive, meaning patients have faster recovery times and less pain, Purdy said.

The daVinci comes in two parts: one part where the doctor uses their hands and feet to manipulate controls for the multiple arms on the second part. Purdy said the machine enables him to see blood vessels that would be invisible to the naked eye.

The daVinci primarily performs gynecological procedures at Rush in addition to a few minor general surgeries. By next summer, Rush anticipates expanding the uses of the daVinci by performing urological surgeries with an incoming physician.

While it would take multiple people to move the hulking daVinci machine, roughly the size of a small shed, the Navio robot is a handheld device used by Dr. Sonny Rush that, through a computer, tells Rush where to make angled cuts for partial knee replacements.

“We use the computer to make a virtual image of the patient’s knee,” Rush, an orthopedic surgeon, said, demonstrating on a prototype knee.

Through a combination of angled cuts and implants to supplement damaged parts of the knee, Rush said he could extend the life of a knee by 10, 15 years, prolonging the need for a total knee replacement.

Using the computer, Rush could calculate which angled cuts would optimize the partial knee replacement and use a biological “glue” to hold it all together.

“Patients will be upright, walking in four hours,” Rush said. “And they go home in one to two days… I did one yesterday and that patient went home today.”

For patients in need of a total knee or hip replacement, the Stryker Mako uses CAT scans to create a model that measures the precise cuts needed for complex joints, hopefully expanding to shoulder surgery in the future, Dr. David Pomierski, an orthopedic surgeon, said.

“We can look at the pelvis and move the cup (a part of the hipbone) and optimize for bone stability,” Pomierski said. “When the cup is in the correct position, there’s less of a chance it’ll wear out… the computer can help us get the socket in just the right position.”

Pomierski and Dr. James Watson, another orthopedic surgeon, had performed these surgeries for the last three years, a marked improvement from previous technology. Now, the Mako enabled doctors to better individualize surgeries, Pomierski said.

“This enables the doctor to have that ability and the accuracy of the most skilled doctor,” Pomierski said. “(A) doctor may be the best doctor in the world but this technology will help.”

Younger patients may have a better chance for knee and hip replacements because the new joints will last 25 to 30 years.

“In the old days, people were denied because of their age. A forty-year-old with a bad hip… they’d just say, ‘Use a cane,’ “ Pomierski said. “I think the quality of life for them was poor because the doctor didn’t want to put one in that might fail.”

Because of the precision and individualization, Pomierski said the risk of complications has decreased.

“People who are looking for a solution to a medical problem often research it… they’ll research these things and may say, ‘This is what I want,’ “ Pomierski said. “We’re hoping that patients will say, ‘I want my hip done with this technology.’ “

Larkin Kennedy, the president and CEO of Rush, said the technology improves patient care at the hospital.

“From my viewpoint, the patients get home much faster and can get back to their daily lives,” Kennedy said. “It’s not replacing our doctors’ hands and skills, it’s taking it to the most precise level.”