{"id":730272,"date":"2026-06-28T02:08:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T02:08:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/730272\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T02:08:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T02:08:38","slug":"mom-gets-groundbreaking-mastectomy-from-a-2m-robot-named-carol-and-went-to-the-beach-with-a-tiny-scar-weeks-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/730272\/","title":{"rendered":"Mom gets groundbreaking mastectomy from a $2M robot named Carol \u2014 and went to the beach with a tiny scar weeks later"},"content":{"rendered":"

A California mom of two is back to her normal life after a robot helped remove her breast cancer<\/a> in a historic surgery.<\/p>\n

After noticing a bump during a self exam, Vicky Pan, 46, was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, an aggressive form that grows fast. She found the cancer had already spread to nearby lymph nodes.<\/p>\n

She had \u201cthis deep seated fear,\u201d she told The Post. \u201cMy whole family was very scared, including my kids, and devastated with the news.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pan<\/p>\n

Pan was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer. Vicky Pan<\/p>\n

\"Pan<\/p>\n

Pan while undergoing treatment for cancer. Vicky Pan<\/p>\n

She underwent a robotic single-port mastectomy, the first of its kind in the US outside clinical trials, at Sutter Health\u2019s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland, Calif.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was both nervous and excited at the same time. Nervous since it was a big surgery, my first in my life. Yet I was also excited to get the tumor out of my body.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the help of the $2 million robot, the incision point is so small and surgery precise, it leaves the nipple and skin intact. This minimizes changes to appearance and recovery times.<\/p>\n

In clinical trials, only a few centers offered the procedure, and there were strict limits on who could qualify to undergo the surgery \u2014 and strict limits on who could perform it, too. Now, things are changing as more hospitals can get ahold of the technology and more surgeons trained on how to use it.<\/p>\n

How does the surgery work?<\/p>\n

The only part without the robot is the first, small incision \u2014 the size of a paper clip, Dr. Rita Kwan-Feinberg, who performed the surgery, told The Post. All the necessary tools enter here, usually away from the breast, at the side of the chest.<\/p>\n

Then, the doctor uses the robot to see beyond the limits of human perception. They call it \u201c3D vision.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can literally see small little vessels pulsating,\u201d Kwan-Feinberg said. \u201cI can see the blood flowing through those vessels because the magnification is so high and the detail is so great.\u201d<\/p>\n

That makes a big difference in making precise cuts, which is the name of the game in a mastectomy. They key is to remove cancerous tissue between the skin and breast tissue. If you take too much, it gets into the skin and it dies, she said.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.<\/p>\n

Dr. Kwan-Feinberg using the robot in surgery. Courtesy of Sutter Health<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The process starts without the robot at the first incision. Courtesy of Sutter Health<\/p>\n

The robot allows for this kind of accuracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going from traditional big surgical instruments that the surgeon is using directly with their hands on the tissue to be able to translate the surgeon\u2019s movements into these small, tiny little instruments to dissect that tissue,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The robot is never operating on its own \u2014 the surgeon is in control the entire time.<\/p>\n

\"Kwan-Feinberg<\/p>\n

Kwan-Feinberg is a breast cancer surgeon. Sutter Health<\/p>\n

The robot named Carol<\/p>\n

In December, the FDA cleared the Da Vinci SP Surgical System<\/a> for nipple-sparing mastectomy procedures.<\/p>\n

This is pretty new in the US but has been used around the world with great success for several years, Kwan-Feinberg said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s allowed surgeons like her to learn from others with more experience, including doctors from Italy and Korea. Surgeons and staff are required to train with the robot before doing a surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt definitely requires rigorous training,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just the surgeon, it\u2019s also the staff in the operating room. It\u2019s, you know, how do we position the patient? How do we keep them safe with anesthesia? It also has to do with how do we keep the instruments sterile.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The view through a Da Vinci surgical robot. ZUMAPRESS.com<\/p>\n

\"Surgeons<\/p>\n

Surgeons in Germany perform an abdominal surgery using the Da Vinci robot. ZUMAPRESS.com<\/p>\n

The robot is expensive \u2014 $2 million \u2014 but it\u2019s not a one-trick pony. The FDA has cleared it for use in a number of surgeries, including urology, colorectal and thoracic surgeries.<\/p>\n

The robot even has a name: Carol. It\u2019s named for the wife of the donor who helped bring the robot to Alta Bates Summit Medical Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis wife died from breast cancer and it was quite a bit of heartache. But through that heartache, he found a way to translate that grief into joy,\u201d said Kwan-Feinberg.<\/p>\n

Free the nipple<\/p>\n

This new type of mastectomy could have better outcomes in terms of tissue loss, pain and recovery, but also keep the breast looking largely unchanged.<\/p>\n

But sparing the nipple isn\u2019t just about aesthetics. It has physical and emotional benefits for the patient, Kwan-Feinberg said. Cancer can change a person\u2019s entire life and minimizing additional changes to the body helps a person\u2019s dignity and self-image, too.<\/p>\n

\"Pan<\/p>\n

Pan with her family. Vicky Pan<\/p>\n

Pan said her hair fell out and her body changed from chemotherapy. \u201cAnything that can help minimize the loss, anything that can help me retain some form of identity, I think is like a type of mercy,\u201d she told KTVU<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She told The Post that recovery went \u201cvery smoothly\u201d and her pain was \u201cquite minimal.\u201d She even \u201cwas able to move around and go on a short beach getaway three weeks post-surgery. The outcome was as good as I can hope for.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s now in remission but continuing chemotherapy and immunotherapy to prevent recurrence. She will require reconstructive surgery, but she says, \u201cI am on my path to healing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel grateful for being a cancer survivor \u2026 All my priorities have shifted and I just appreciate everything more,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t take tomorrow for granted, and I\u2019m more present for my family.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A California mom of two is back to her normal life after a robot helped remove her breast…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730273,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[314548,7966,273241,97,252,253,314549,146952,314546,314547],"class_list":["post-730272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-alta-bates-summit-medical-center","tag-breast-cancer","tag-da-vinci-surgical-robot","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-mastectomy","tag-sutter-health","tag-triple-negative-breast-cancer","tag-vicky-pan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=730272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}