Blackpool patients return home after robot-assisted surgery

Gwen Easton was back walking her dog the day after leaving hospital following lung surgery in Blackpool. Two weeks later, she was doing Pilates.

Her experience is among the early results reported by Blackpool Teaching Hospitals after introducing a surgeon-controlled robot in June. The da Vinci 5 system lets surgeons move instruments through small cuts while viewing a magnified, three-dimensional image.

The hospital says its first patient went home after six days, against an expected eight. These are individual experiences, however, rather than a study establishing how much the equipment improves recovery.

There are trade-offs too. University College London Hospitals’ patient guidance lists treatment costs and longer operating-theatre time among the drawbacks of robotic chest surgery. Other surgical approaches may be more suitable for some patients.

Blackpool’s system followed staff training and testing and now supports four surgical specialties. For Gwen, the benefit was something more familiar than new technology: getting home and returning to the activities she enjoys.

Sources

• Blackpool Teaching Hospitals — Latest technology celebrates 90 years of care at Blackpool Victoria Hospital
• University College London Hospitals — Robotic-assisted thoracic surgery: patient information