Baptist North Mississippi adds da Vinci 5 robot for surgeries in Oxford

Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi has already put its new da Vinci 5 robot to work in about 100 surgeries, giving Oxford patients access to a fifth-generation platform that can support more precise minimally invasive procedures without leaving Lafayette County.

The upgrade matters because it affects what kinds of operations can be done closer to home, and how quickly patients may recover after surgery. At Baptist North Mississippi, where surgeons now have a more advanced robotic system in the operating room, the promise is better visualization, tighter control and finer movements during procedures that can be hard on the body when done through larger incisions. For North Mississippi families deciding where to have surgery, that can mean one less trip to Memphis, Jackson or elsewhere for advanced care.

The da Vinci 5 is Intuitive’s most advanced and integrated robotic surgery system, and the company says it has force feedback, more than 150 enhancements and 10,000 times the computing power of the da Vinci Xi. Intuitive received FDA clearance for the system in March 2024 for adult urology, general, gynecology and thoracic procedures. Baptist bought the robot in February and had already moved from purchase to patient use by the time it was introduced Monday, signaling that the technology is not sitting on a wish list but already part of daily care in Oxford.

That fits the trajectory of Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi, a 217-bed acute-care hospital on Belk Boulevard that serves the northern third of Mississippi and says it employs more than 100 medical and surgical specialists across more than 30 specialty areas. The current campus opened in November 2017 as a roughly 600,000-square-foot, five-story replacement facility after leaders first discussed a new $300 million regional hospital back in 2012. The project was designed to meet growth in Oxford and Lafayette County, and the latest robotic purchase extends that same logic into the operating room.

Baptist also had experience with robotic surgery before the da Vinci 5 arrival. Oxford surgeon Dr. Walker Byars completed his 1,000th robotic-assisted surgery at the hospital in 2018, and in 2023 Baptist completed its first total knee replacement using a Rosa robot. With Memorial Hospital Gulfport already identified as the first hospital in Mississippi to offer da Vinci 5, the Oxford upgrade shows that major systems are racing to add the newest technology. For Lafayette County patients, the practical effect is simple: more advanced surgery, with more options, closer to home.