When Jose Santillan found out he had prostate cancer, he became determined to find the best treatment option available today. His research pointed him to Naveen Kella, M.D., one of the country’s most experienced surgeons performing the most advanced surgical treatment for prostate cancer – Robotically-assisted Surgery, offered in San Antonio only at St. Luke’s Baptist Hospital. Although Santillan lives in Mexico City, he traveled here for a robotic prostatectomy performed by Dr. Kella. “I call my surgeon, ‘Saint Kella’,” says Santillan, “because he performs miracles.” Today Santillan is cancer free. His recovery from the operation was virtually painless and his return to normal activities was, in his words, “very fast, a few days.”
Santillan is not alone. Since Kella entered private practice in 2004, he has performed more than 650 robotic prostatectomies, a number few surgeons can claim. That counts him among the most well regarded robotic surgeons in the country. His patients seek him out from all across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and beyond. “Robotic prostatectomy is becoming the gold standard for treating prostate cancer,” says Kella. “Patients with prostate cancer do their research and will travel for the best option. St. Luke’s has the most state-of-the-art robot on the market and the only one in the city. It’s the main reason I came to San Antonio to practice medicine.”
Born in Detroit , but raised in Texas, (“my dad said it was too cold in Detroit”) Kella is the son of parents who immigrated to the United States from India. He attended public school in Dallas and did his undergrad work at Stanford University as an engineering major, with a track to biotechnology, until he felt the pull of medicine and returned to Dallas for medical school at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical. A conversation with his future father-in-law convinced him to specialize in urology.
“He is a urologist and started talking to me about the opportunities to perform major surgery, work with tiny instruments, lasers and scopes, which all appealed to the engineer in me,” says Kella. “In urology there is also the opportunity to move to an office practice later in your career, so the flexibility of the specialty also appealed to me.”
Kella did his urology residency at Tufts, New England Medical Center in Boston and was intrigued by a demonstration of non-robotic laparoscopic prostatectomy. “It was about that time that robotics first came out, and that was an even better way,” says Kella. He spent the next year at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston where he helped start a robotics fellowship program. “It was probably the toughest year of my life,” says Kella. “I was in Houston, my wife was in Boston. I was living in a tiny apartment. But it was what I needed to do. It’s where I learned about prostate cancer and robotics’ role in curing it.”
Robots cost more than a million dollars, but Trip Pilgrim, President and CEO of Baptist Health System, said the decision to invest in the da Vinci robotic technology by Intuitive was an easy one. “We’re listening carefully to physicians who practice at our hospitals because we know they need the best tools available to provide the best patient outcomes. When they asked for robotics, we said yes.”
Urologic procedures are the most commonly performed robotic surgeries. Surgeons operate in a minimally invasive fashion that allows for decreased side effects such as, impotence and incontinence, and equal cancer-related outcomes compared with open surgery. Most patients return to activities in days. A number of other medical specialties benefit too. Cardiac surgeons use robotic equipment to repair hearts without opening the chest. General surgeons and gynecologists with robotic training also help keep Baptist Health System’s two robot OR suites busy. These talented physicians perform robotically-assisted surgery in their specialties, all with the benefit of faster patient recovery times and quicker returns to normal activities.
So, just what makes a surgeon good at robotics? Kella’s answer is surprising. “Being good at video games definitely helps, and lots of practice. It’s a very fancy power tool, so like anything else, you have to practice a lot before you become good. I’m fortunate to be a part of a large group, Urology San Antonio, where I see more prostate cancer patients than the average urologist and am able to develop more experience using the robot.”
When he’s not in the operating room directing the precise movements of a fourarmed mechanical marvel, Kella is often on the basketball court. “I’m a wannabe NBA player,” says Kella. “I can make ten 3-pointers in a row regularly, but since the NBA hasn’t called yet, basketball is just my preferred method of exercise.” Tinkering with computers satisfies his engineering itch, and Kella hosts several blogs on building green. “The blogs support discussions on how you can use green technology, but still live a high-tech, luxury lifestyle.”
Asked what the most rewarding thing is about the work he does, Kella says without hesitation, “Seeing how patients are so grateful the cancer is addressed and that they are back to normal activities after surgery so quickly.”
After three years of performing robotic surgery at St. Luke’s, Kella is still gathering steam. He and his robotic partner in the OR have a lot of work to do. After all, it’s tough work living up to the reputation of a Saint.