£2m robot joins fight on cancer
Meet DaVinci Xi, the £2million robot proving a “game changer” for surgeons as they work to save the lives of urgent cancer patients.
The kit joins an existing robot at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust and is helping it exceed national targets for cancer treatments.
The new recruit is helping surgeons perform life-saving laparoscopic surgery – which uses just small incisions – on patients with prostate, bladder, kidney, bowel and oral cancers.
Sitting at a master control console, the surgeon controls its arms, equipped with jointed ‘wrists’, which exceed the range of motion of the human hand, also reducing tremor.
The technology drastically improves on conventional keyhole surgery by reducing pain and recovery times, less need for blood transfusions and fewer complications.
Kanagasabai Sahadevan, a consultant urological surgeon, set up the service with colleagues and had to undertake rigorous training to operate the robot.
He said: “Robotic surgery is a game changer and allows us to provide life-saving treatment to thousands of cancer patients. With two robotic systems in place we are able to perform even more cancer operations – quicker than we ever have before.
“We can now operate on patients who before would have been seen as too risky for open surgery as the robot allows us to perform minimally invasive procedures.
"Our robotic bladder cancer programme has one of the shortest hospital stays in the country.
“We are very proud to offer world class robotic surgery right here in Sunderland and we want to remain at the forefront of advances in technol
ogy so that we can continue to provide the best care to our patients.”
The trusts says robotic surgery has made a major contribution to improving the quality of services and care to patients, with its surgeons carrying out more than 1,300 procedures since 2013.
It added despite the challenges of Covid-19, 86% of pat ie nt s re c eive d u ro l og y treatment within the recommended 62 days in August.
The data for September shows it is the best performing trust in the Northern Cancer Alliance region for urgent GP referrals for suspected cancers, with 94.54% seen within two weeks of seeing their GP.