A surgical robot at Addenbrooke’s is helping to cure patients with prostate cancer, enabling them to go home less than 24 hours after surgery.
This the shortest hospital stay in the UK for the procedure, known as a robotic prostatectomy, and is being carried about five times a week in the Day Surgery Unit at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (CUH).
The robot is operated by a highly skilled surgeon and removes cancerous tissue by making several small incisions in the patient’s abdomen. Not only is this less invasive, with less blood loss and pain, it means patients recover more quickly from their surgery.
In the past with open surgery, the procedure needed a hospital stay of round four to five days. Now, patients are able to go home the next day, freeing up bed space so more patients can be treated, helping to reduce waiting times and cancellations.
Mr Ben Lamb, consultant surgeon at CUH who is part of the robotic prostatectomy day surgery team, said: “I sit at a control panel in the operating room and guide the robotic arms holding the surgical instruments. The robot gives me a high level of manoeuvrability and precision so I can target the cancerous areas without having to open up the abdomen."
Once the operation is over, patients are cared for on the Day Surgery Unit by specially trained nursing staff, freeing up an inpatient bed in the main hospital.
By the next morning, patients are ready to be discharged, to continue their recovery at home.
The Da Vinci robot is used to carry out a number of other operations at CUH and was donated to the hospital by the Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ACT).
ACT is currently raising funds to buy CUH another robot. The £1.5 million appeal was launched in April last year and has already raised £1.36m through donations and pledges, leaving just £142,000 to reach the target.
