DeKalb hospital completes 2,000th successful surgery with robotics

Late last year, Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital in DeKalb underwent $15 million in upgrades to its surgery suite.

With it came the addition of a second surgical robot, expanding access to minimally invasive robotic surgeries.

Kishwaukee Hospital has since reached a milestone, completing its 2,000th successful robotic-assisted surgery.

Dr. Stephen Goldman, who specializes in general surgery at Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital, said the robotic-assisted platform has the advantage of making minimally invasive surgery much like doing open surgery, but with smaller incisions, quicker recovery and less pain.

“What I would do with my hand, if I [were] doing an open traditional surgery, can now be done using the robot because the robot can match those results,” Goldman said. “It can match those movements, turns, bends, and twists.”

Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital has used the robotic-assisted technology, called the da Vinci Xi Surgical System, in its operating room since 2022.

The technology enables more than half of all surgical procedures to be performed robotically, according to a news release. The platform can assist with prostate, kidney, bladder, and gynecological operations, as well as general surgery procedures like hernia repairs and bowel resections.

“The completion of our surgical renovation and the addition of a second robotic surgery platform mark a significant milestone for our hospital and reflects our unwavering commitment to expanding access to world-class surgical care,” Maura O’Toole, president of Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital, said in a news release. “This investment ensures our patients can receive the highest levels of advanced, minimally invasive procedures, close to home.”

1 of 8

Dr. Jack Wagoner, associate chief medical officer at Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital, slides an attachment into place on the da Vinci Xi robotic surgical system Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, in one of the operating rooms at the hospital in DeKalb. The hospital recently celebrated its 2,000th successful robotic-assisted surgery. (Mark Busch)

Dr. Jack Wagoner, who specializes in general surgery at Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital, said he tends to see a lot of patients with hernias.

“You know, DeKalb, Sycamore, we kind of live in farm country, so we do have a lot of laborers,” Wagoner said. “It’s definitely more common in people who have physical jobs. We see incisional hernias, people who have had prior surgeries elsewhere, and they have a hernia from an incision. So, between the groin hernias, inguinal hernias, incisional hernias, a classic belly button, or umbilical hernias, we do see a lot of hernias.”

The addition of robotic-assisted technology in DeKalb brings patients access to advanced, less invasive options for general surgeries. That allows for gallbladder removal, adrenal gland removal and appendix removal — all closer to home, according to the health system.

To operate the machine, surgeons sit at a console to view three-dimensional images of the surgical site and control the arms of the robotic instruments inside a patient’s body. This allows surgeons to toggle with the device’s tiny robotic arms and magnifying lenses to make incisions and maneuvers, according to the health system.

Wagoner, who has been a surgeon in practice since 1999, said the transition to the robotic-assisted platform was not something foreign to him.

When he was in medical school, he said he was trained in using the laparoscopic surgery platform.

“It really is the next iteration of laparoscopic surgery,” Wagoner said. “There’s always a learning curve to new technology, but nowhere near what it was for the old-time surgeons who had never done laparoscopic surgery. They had always done open surgery, and now they had to learn laparoscopic surgery. That, I think, was a difficult transition 30, 40, 50 years ago.”

Robotic-assisted surgery may not be recommended for all ailments and injuries.

But Wagoner said the patient outcomes and recovery times are vastly improved using the robotic-assisted platform.

“Especially in this day and age when narcotic use is front and center, the rate of narcotic use with the robotic platform is minimal,” Wagoner said. “I have probably half of my hernia patients never even get narcotics filled. But an open incision, patients had to have narcotics. It just hurt too bad.”

Goldman said he believes there is room for more progress as new technologies come down the line.

“I think there’s more to come,” Goldman said. “Obviously, AI is coming and what that advantage will have. ... We look at these as all tools in adjunct to our medical decision-making and our medical care. They’re not supplements. They’re not substitutions.”

The da Vinci Xi Surgical System is available at locations across the Northwestern Medicine system, including at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital, Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital, Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital, Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital, Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital, and Northwestern Medicine Grayslake Outpatient Center.