The patient’s incision was so small that he only took paracetamol after the operation.
Spanish doctors successfully performed the world’s first fully robotic surgery lung transplantation.
To perform surgery, surgeons used a robot with four “arms” called “Da Vinci”, reported The Next Web. The patient was a 65-year-old man. He was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, a life-threatening lung disease.
Before the operation, surgeons removed air from the donor lung to reduce its size. As a result, the lung was placed in the chest cavity through an incision 8 cm wide.
Small incisions were made near the ribs to accommodate robot “arms” and 3D cameras, thanks to which surgeons were able to see the cavity inside.
Doctors commented that the new technology is less painful and reduces the risk of postoperative infection, as the wound is easily closed.
“This technique will improve the quality of life of patients, shorten the postoperative period and reduce pain,” said the head of the Department of Thoracic Surgery and Lung Transplantation at Val d’Hebron Hospital, Dr. Albert Jauregui.
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It is noted that the patient’s incision was so small that he only took paracetamol. And traditional lung transplantation requires postoperative rehabilitation with much stronger painkillers.
“From the moment I regained consciousness and woke up from general anesthesia, I did not feel pain,” the man emphasized.
Other patients waiting for lung transplant surgery will be offered the new technique, Dr. Jauregui said.
Robot “Da Vinci”
Work “Da Vinci” was developed in 2000. It is used to treat hundreds of thousands of patients. The system is not performs the operation itselfand repeats the movements of the surgeon’s hands in real time.
The robot was used for a lung transplant only once – at a hospital in Los Angeles, USA. However, then “Da Vinci” performed the operation only partially, and the lung, as before, was inserted into the chest in the traditional way.