Look no hands: Robots perform delicate pancreas transplant in amazing world first

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Precise: The surgeons said they performed the transplant making only three small holes and a three inch incision


Doctors have carried out the world's first robotically-assisted pancreatic transplant on a mother-of-two in Italy.

The team from Pisa Hospital performed the operation on a 43-year-old woman who had suffered from type one diabetes for 19 years and had already had a kidney transplant.

She suffered no complications during the three-hour procedure and left hospital three days ago.

The Italian team said it opened up new possible treatments for diabetes patients because it was far less invasive than traditional surgery.

Lead surgeon Ugo Boggi, said they performed the operation on 27 September and that their patient's body had accepted the new organ.

Mr Boggi said the procedure 'ends a diatribe that lasted for decades on the advisability of transplanting pancreases because of the hugely invasive nature of traditional techniques and the massive incidence of post-op complications'.



The team of doctors at Pisa Hospital performed the operation on 27 September. The patient suffered no complications


Using the Da Vinci SHDI robot, he said, his team had been able to remove the woman's pancreas and insert a new one 'by making just three tiny holes and an incision that was just seven centimetres long'.

Tuscany's councillor for health, Daniela Scaramuccia, hailed the 'pioneering' operation, saying it 'opens up fresh treatment prospects'.

'We are proud of a school that has been at the forefront of its field for years,' she said.

'Robot technology is still at an emerging stage and we believe it will make strides towards an even wider range of surgical applications'.


The Chief of Pisa Cisanello hospital's surgery transplant team, Ugo Boggi. He said their success opened up the possibility of further pancreas transplants for diabetes patients


It follows just a month after an American patient had his prostate removed in the first all-robotic surgery.

Medics at Montreal General Hospital used an anesthesia robot, nicknamed McSleepy, to put the patient under. They then employed the DaVinci surgical robot to remotely perform the delicate operation.

Dr A Aprikian from McGill University Health Centre, praised his tools, saying: 'The DaVinci allows us to work from a workstation operating surgical instruments with delicate movements of our fingers with a precision that cannot be provided by humans alone.'

source: dailymail

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