Surgeons at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in the UK have completed their first-ever robot-assisted double operation on a 69-year-old cancer patient.
The procedure involved bowel and liver surgery in a single session, utilising the hospital’s Da Vinci robotic system.
Siong-Seng Liau, chair of the Trust’s Robotic Surgery Steering Group and leading hepatobiliary surgeon at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, said: ‘This is the first time we have done this kind of double robotic surgery procedure, which is extremely rare elsewhere in the country, and we are delighted it was such a success.’
Michael Powar, consultant colorectal and robotic surgeon, added: ‘This success reflects the seamless teamwork across our specialities, anaesthetic and theatre teams. This is a significant advancement in personalised cancer care for our patients by minimising trauma, reducing complications and enhancing recovery.’
They are now exploring how this technique could be applied to other surgeries.
‘Surgery of this sort would normally be completed in two procedures on two separate days, and involve two periods in hospital, totalling up to seven to ten days,’ explained Liau.
For patient Philip Greene, a former field service engineer, the experience was almost surreal. He explained: ‘I was blown away by how fast it was all over. One minute the anaesthetist was explaining I’d soon drift off, and the next I was waking up in recovery and looking at a chap in the bed opposite.’
Diagnosed after a routine stool test revealed suspicious results, Philip underwent three months of chemotherapy before being selected for the pioneering dual keyhole procedure.
Despite the complexity, he recalled little pain and was discharged just three days after the procedure.
‘It was like a win-win,’ he said. ‘The surgeons now know they can do the procedure, and I am out of hospital and doing well. I can see how this will benefit other people in the future, and how it could be applied to other kinds of surgeries.’
Philip was left with just seven minor puncture wounds, rather than the two large scars he would have had from conventional open surgery.
He hopes more patients can benefit from the innovative approach. ‘Purely going by my experience, I would say that if you need surgical interventions, then this kind – the doubling up technique – is good because it saves two separate operations, and means less time in hospital.’
The operation marks another milestone in Addenbrooke’s growing robotic surgery programme, which recently carried out a record ten gall bladder operations in a single robot-assisted ‘Super Sunday’.
The hospital currently operates three surgical robots – two Da Vinci systems from Intuitive and one Versius from CMR Surgical – across various specialities, including colorectal, hepatobiliary, gynaecology and ENT.
