The United States has reached a new medical milestone with the nation’s first robot-assisted liver transplant. This procedure has brought with it the benefits of minimally invasive surgery, such as reduced pain, faster recovery and precision in the execution of the operation, even in the case of complex procedures.
This medical innovation took place at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in May and was carried out by a team of surgeons from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, according to a recent release from the university.
The recipient patient, a 60-year-old man diagnosed with liver cancer and cirrhosis caused by the hepatitis C virus, recovered remarkably quickly after the intervention. Contrary to the usual six weeks of recovery after a liver transplant, he was able to walk and resume normal activities in less than a month, including golf and swimming.
Dr Adeel Khan, the transplant surgeon who led the team in performing this ground-breaking procedure and associate professor of surgery at the Faculty of Medicine, said the transplant was a success, with the operation going smoothly, with the new liver starting to function immediately , and the patient recovering without surgical complications.
The traditional liver transplant procedure involves a large incision, which can be painful and requires a longer recovery period. In contrast, robot-assisted surgeries offer a minimally invasive approach. Surgeons control the robotic instruments from a short distance using joystick-like controls, which provides a magnified, three-dimensional view of the operating area, enabling a precision that conventional methods cannot achieve.
For this procedure, the medical team made several small incisions, the size of a key, and a 15-centimeter vertical cut, much smaller than the traditional approach. This technique speeds up the patient’s recovery because it does not involve sectioning the abdominal muscles.
The procedure took just over eight hours, but that time is expected to decrease as the team gets used to the robotic method.
It should be noted that South Korea performed the world’s first robot-assisted partial liver transplant in 2021, involving half of the liver from a living donor. The team led by Dr. Khan is a pioneer in performing robotic whole liver transplantation.
Dr. William Chapman, a leading figure in the Division of General Surgery at the University of Washington, praised the achievement and noted that the benefits of this technique will become clearer with experience.
The robotic transplant team was established five years ago and initially focused on kidney transplants. To date, they have successfully performed over 30 such transplants and various other interventions involving the liver, pancreas and stomach.
This medical development opens new perspectives in the field of organ transplantation and can significantly improve the quality of life of patients and the results of complex surgical procedures.
Source: 360medical.ro
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2023-09-18 20:43:09
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