Robo-doc is helping patients beat cancer
CANCER patients have a new surgeon performing their operations... a robot.
Medics have introduced the £1m ‘robo-doc’ to an operating theatre at Stepping Hill Hospital.
The four-armed robot can carry out keyhole surgery on patients with kidney, bladder and prostate cancer.
It is so precise that patients recover more quickly and need less medication than those who have traditional surgery.
Prostate patients can leave hospital within 24 hours and bladder patients spend five days less in hospital. Kidney patients have tumours removed with less damage to their kidney.
A surgeon operates the robot and its arms go inside the patient through small incisions in the skin. It can cut and remove cancerous tissue, which would otherwise be impossible to reach.
Consultant urological surgeon Neil Oakley, who is trained in robotic surgery, has already used the robot to perform its first operation.
He is part of an international team now overseeing the training of other surgeons at the hospital. A second robot is also carrying out operations at The Christie.
Father-of-two Victor Unwin, 46, from Stockport, became the first person to be operated on by the robot. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer just over a month ago.
Mr Unwin, speaking just before the operation, said: “It was a blow to be told I had cancer, particularly as I lost my brother to the disease, and my mum had cancer too.
“I was given different choices for treatment, but when Mr Oakley told me about the new robot, that seemed the best option for me.”
Stepping Hill is renowned for its nationally-acclaimed urological services and has a track record of UK firsts.
In 2012, it became the first hospital in Britain to remove a prostate cancer tumour using a hand- held robot.
The following year, it became the first to use a glowing dye to remove cancerous kidney tumours.
Mr Oakley said: “This robot offers a great oppor- tunity to benefit patients.
“It maximises what we can see and miniaturises what we can do, and enhance the dexterity of the human hand. Robotic technology is transforming surgery.”