A hospital in Barcelona, Spain, performed the world’s first fully robotic lung transplant at the end of February, in a technique that reduces the risks of these surgeries and eliminates patient pain, the institution announced Monday.
The transplant was carried out with technology that has been used for years to operate on, for example, lung cancers, in which it is no longer necessary to open the thorax and separate or move the ribs to reach the diseased organ, with just a small cut. below. the sternum and from there introduce a camera and the necessary instruments for the surgery, explained today at a press conference the head of the Thoracic Surgery and Lung Transplant Service of the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, Albert Jauregui.
The challenge, Albert Jauregui said, was to remove a diseased lung through this small cut and introduce a healthy lung through the same route and place it in the patient’s body.
At the end of February, a patient’s lung was transplanted for the first time using this technique, taking advantage of the lung’s ability to “inflate and deflate,” the surgeon explained, to try to explain how it was possible to extract and insert it. such an organ through such a small opening.
The patient who was transplanted, presented only by the name of Xavier to the journalists, was also at the press conference today and claimed to have felt “zero pain” since he regained consciousness after the operation.
Surgeon Albert Jauregui explained that the traditional way of transplanting a lung requires opening the thorax horizontally, from one side of the patient’s thorax to the other, or between the ribs, in addition to having to move the ribs themselves, to leave enough space for the doctors. work, which causes severe pain in the postoperative period.
The fully robotic transplant carried out in February in Barcelona did not touch the ribs or other bones, so Xavier felt no pain, the doctor said, adding that as it is a “minimally invasive” surgery, general recovery is also being achieved . faster., In addition to reducing the risk of complications after transplantation.
In addition to the incision below the sternum, small cuts were made in the side of the ribcage to allow robotic ‘arms’ (surgical instruments) and 3D (three-dimensional) cameras to enter the patient’s body.
Albert Jauregui stressed that the application of robotics allows high precision in surgeries, which reduces risks in general and increases the possibility of success of an intervention.
The doctor explained that the technique only allows, for now, the transplantation of one lung, but he expressed his confidence that it could soon be applied in cases where it is necessary to transplant both lungs from the same person.
The Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, in Barcelona, has established itself as an international benchmark in the field of lung transplants.
Source: TSF
