Robots carry out bowel surgery

EAST Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust has become the first trust in Lancashire to use a surgical robot to carry out colorectal surgery.

The trust installed the £1.3 million Da Vinci robot in the theatres at the Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital in June 2015 to carry out prostatectomies (removal of the prostate gland) for prostate cancer.

The number of procedures which can be carried out using the robot have been increased since then, and so far five patients have had robotic colorectal surgery at the Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital.

These procedures are being undertaken by colorectal surgeons Adnan Sheikh and Colin Harris.

Shahid Islam, divisional director for surgery and anaesthetics for the trust, said: “This is a milestone achievement – with the Trust, once again, at the forefront of innovative surgery, and one of only a few across the country offering robotic colorectal surgery.

“It is expected that in the first year of service, 25 patients will reap the benefits from robotic colorectal surgery which include a shortened hospital stay, reduced post-operative pain and reduced complications of surgery.

“Due to the precision of the robot, deep pelvic tumours can be operated on in a minimally invasive fashion which would have previously needed extensive surgery.

“At this stage we are focusing on bowel cancer in the pelvis, but the use of the robot will continue to develop across the field of colorectal surgery in due course.”