The University Hospital Complex of A Coruña (CHUAC) has used robotic technology for the first time in Galicia to remove a pancreatic tumor. The patient, a 60-year-old woman, has already been discharged and is evolving “satisfactorily”.
The members of the general surgery team of the hospital center used the Davinci robot to perform a pancreaticoduodenectomy. This technique consists of removing the head of the pancreas, the duodenum, a small segment of the stomach, the gallbladder and the extrahepatic bile duct, as well as the lymph nodes in the area, which in this case were affected by cancer.
Regarded as the most complex surgical technique of all hepato-bilio-pancreatic pathology, it is possible to perform it through conventional open surgery or, exceptionally, with laparoscopic surgery. In this case, the CHUAC specialists used the Davinci robot to carry it out for the first time in Galicia.
The robot allows the technique to be carried out laparoscopically and allows health workers to magnified vision, expanding the visual field up to 10 times. Other advantages are that the surgeon handle the camera with the robotstabilizing the vision of the surgical field and eliminating the tremor of the hands, at the same time that tongs have swivel capabilitysomething that is lacking with conventional laroscopy.
The CHUAC has reported in a note that the complexity of this technique resides not only in the removal of the entire piece affected by the tumor, already difficult due to its relationship with large blood vessels, but also because of the difficulty in rebuild the organs and tissues around the pancreas. To all this is added the proximity of important veins and arteries.
The robotization of laparoscopic surgery can be applied to any endoscopic surgery. The CHUAC, where appropriate, has chosen to apply them in those of High complexity such as laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer, digestive cancer or pancreatic cancer, as in this case.
