The robot has been hugely successful in improving outcomes for cancer patients throughout Lancashire and south Cumbria, and leading to quicker recovery.
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals have conducted a huge 248 robotic procedures using this robot over this first year.
The robot provides a 3 dimensional view and the ‘wristed’ instruments allow much greater control and care of tissues, making it much easier for our surgeons to access parts of the body that are difficult to reach, and undertake complex procedures using keyhole incisions rather than open surgery, reducing the risk of complications and enabling a speedier recovery.
Ioannis Peristerakis, Consultant Colorectal Surgeon said: “We are delighted to have had access to the most advanced surgical robot, for the last 12 months. We are truly grateful to the Rosemere Cancer Foundation and its supporters, for fundraising, to make this type of cutting edge technology available to patients in Lancashire. We have performed 34 robotic bowel cancer operations, with significant reduction in patient recovery times and complications. The advanced capabilities of the surgical robot have enabled us to offer minimally invasive bowel surgery to groups of patients who would otherwise not be suitable for this type of surgery. We are one of very few centres in the UK to have performed a combined robotic procedure to treat both bowel and womb cancer, in the same patient, with excellent results. Looking into the future, we are disseminating our knowledge and expertise in bowel robotic surgery to the next generation of bowel surgeons in the North West, through training courses and training events, to ensure that the people of Lancashire will continue to receive the best possible treatments available.”The Cancer Centre at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals is just one of three in the country, and the only one in the North West, to be able to provide treatment for upper gastrointestinal cancer using this new robot. We have already completed 15 robotic upper GI cases in this time. Paul Turner, Consultant UGI and General Surgeon and Kishore Pursnani, Consultant UGI, General Surgeon and Clinical Director for UGI, recently completed the first robotic oesophagectomy using a DaVinci Xi robotic system outside of London. They have also previously completed the first upper gastrointestinal surgery in the UK which uses this most advanced DaVinci Xi robotic system. Kishore said: “The state of the art robot in our hospital helps us to redefine keyhole surgery for upper GI cancers. Although we have been doing traditional keyhole surgery for upper GI cancers in our department for some time now, the robot is already helping patients towards a quicker recovery in intensive care.”
Pierre Martin-Hirsch, Consultant Gynaecological Cancer Surgeon recently completed our first robotic procedure on a patient with a high Body Mass Index (BMI). Conventional keyhole procedures, which are less invasive and speed up recovery, can be inappropriate for patients with a high BMI, and open surgery may not be an option either due to the increased risks. Commonly, such patients who have open surgery would be in hospital for 10-20 days. However, this patient was able to go home after just 48 hours. Pierre said: “I am extremely pleased that we can now perform gynaecological surgery on patients with a high BMI using the robot. This allows us to perform keyhole surgery with confidence on patients with a high BMI, reducing the risks and dramatically improving their recovery. We have completed 34 gynaecological robotic surgical procedures during the first year with the robot. We have achieved so much with this robot over its first year with us and I’m sure we will continue to grow in success.”