Finally, after a wait of one-and-a-half years, doctors at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, performed the first robotic-assisted surgery at the department of urology on Friday.
According to the PGIMER, the surgery was performed by a team of surgeons led by Dr AK Mandal, head, urology department. Robotic-assisted laparoscopic pyeloplasty was performed on a 20-year-old youth, who was suffering from congenial obstruction of the kidney causing recurrent pain. If this disease was not treated, the kidney would have been gradually damaged, the PGIMER release said.
The potential benefits of this advance technology are 3-dimensional magnified vision and precise tissue handling and suturing leading to early recovery and good outcome. This facility will now be available at the PGIMER on regular basis.
The PGIMER had purchased a robotic surgery unit by spending Rs 20 crore in June 2013. The ill planning on the institute’s part had been at display since beginning, as the operation theatre where it was to be installed was not ready. The entire work to prepare the site for the installation of the robotic unit was started a month after the robot reached the institute.
The work of site preparation for robotic unit was awarded to National Building Construction Corporation.
{{/usCountry}}The work of site preparation for robotic unit was awarded to National Building Construction Corporation.
{{/usCountry}}Significantly, Delhi’s All-India Institute of Medical Sciences had already introduced the same system in the urology department in 2010. They are even performing robot-assisted bariatric (weight-loss) surgeries.
What’s robotic surgery?
It is a robotically-assisted surgery, which helps overcome the limitations of minimally-invasive surgery and enhances the capabilities of surgeons performing open surgery.