First robotic pancreas operation in Portugal facilitates recovery
The first pancreaticoduodenectomy by robotic surgery in the country was performed on Tuesday in a 58-year-old man with a subtype of tumor of the head of the pancreas, less aggressive, although malignant, called ampuloma, and the procedure was handled by Emanuel Vigia.
According to Hugo Pinto Marques, director of the Surgery Service and Transplantation Unit of the Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Lisboa Central (which includes Curry Cabral), the possibility of performing the operation using robotics “is a breakthrough in the country ”.
“The possibility of performing this type of surgery using less invasive methods, in this case robotics, represents a very good prospect for patients, in the sense of having a better recovery from a surgery that is usually very complicated and aggressive” , he explained.
The clinician also said that conventional surgery leaves a “quite large” scar and “normally requires some hospitalization time”.
The use of a robot made the procedure possible through five holes one centimeter each, “even much less aggressive” and more precise, he detailed.
“It is a surgery with much greater precision, because the robot allows a movement that does not have tremor, more precise, with a visualization of the anatomy and structures that is magnified 10 times in high definition. Therefore, it allows an extension of the human eye in a slightly different way than what happens in conventional surgery”, stressed Hugo Pinto Marques.
For the director of the Surgery Service and Transplantation Unit at CHULC, where more operations are performed on the head of the pancreas in Portugal, between 100 and 150 per year, the innovation allows “less aggression for the patient and a much faster recovery” .
Although this factor is still under analysis, “everything indicates” that “it is likely that in terms of complications in the future the rate will be lower” with robotic surgery.
The operation, which took longer than the conventional one, lasting about five hours, took approximately 09:30 hours.
“The procedure takes longer than conventional surgery, which brings more benefits to the patient in terms of recovery”, said Hugo Pinto Marques.
The doctor underlined the increase, in global terms, of pancreatic cancer “all over the world and also in our country”.
“Surgery is the only thing that still cures pancreatic cancer”, said Hugo Pinto Marques.
The team, led by Emanuel Vigia, had the support of a Dutch team, as part of a European training program for this type of surgery.
The operation consists of removing the head of the pancreas, duodenum and part of the stomach.
Robotic surgery has been integrated into CHULC since November 2019, the year in which the first equipment of this type appeared in the National Health Service, according to information from the Hospital Center.
The use of robotics is already practiced in urology, colorectal cancer, rescued treatment of obesity, gynecology and hepato-bilio-pancreatic diseases.
On the eve of World Pancreas Cancer Day, on November 15, doctor Ricardo Rio-Tinto, president of the Portuguese Pancreas Club, spoke to the Lusa agency about the advances that have been made in this area and the increased incidence of this tumor in older patients. young people, between 40 and 50 years old, without the classic risk factors: alcohol consumption and smoking.
Although the overall prognosis remains poor, there has been a slow but consistent increase in overall five-year survival, which has gone from around 5% to over 11%, he said.
AYR (HN) // ZO