A private hospital has completed 100 robotic surgeries in the past year, most of them to treat cancer.
Doctors at Narayana Superspeciality Hospital in Howrah said robotic surgeries improved the scope of cure and the quality of life after the surgery.
A robot includes a camera and arms attached with surgical instruments. Seated in a console, a surgeon controls the arms. The console gives the surgeon a high-definition, 3D view of the surgical site. The assistance of the robot provides more precision, flexibility and control than what is possible with conventional techniques.
“We have completed 100 robotic surgeries. Cancer patients have benefited the most,” said Suman Mallik, senior consultant radiation oncologist and clinical head at the hospital.
Robotic surgeries are around “30 per cent” costlier than corresponding laparoscopic surgeries, the doctors said. “But the cost gets balanced because the post-operative hospital stay is much shorter,” said Mallik.
Miniscule incisions, much faster discharge and return to normal life after the surgery are the main advantages of robotic surgeries, said the doctors.
“In conventional open surgeries, there would be yawning incisions. With time, the laparoscopic technique has brought the size of the incision down to 1.5m, then 1.2m. Now, with the assistance of a robot, we have further reduced the size of the incision to 0.8mm. Smaller incision means much lesser blood loss and reduced chance of post-operative infection,” said Tarun Jindal, head of the department of uro-oncology and robotic surgery at the hospital.