A number of successful robotic oesophagectomy surgeries have been carried out at Belfast City Hospital in the first half of this year.
Consultant Scott McCain has carried out a number of the operations and is extremely excited about what this could mean for patients in the future. He explained: “We have been trying the change from open to keyhole surgery over the last year. Robotics are more flexible, extremely detailed, offering better joining of the stomach and oesophagus, etc.
“There are big benefits from robotics, for the patient there’s better pain control, less risks and better quality of life. As well as that, it cuts down on hospital stays. Patients are only requiring 2-3 days in ICU and our two patients were home after their operations on day 6 and day 9 respectively. We also recently had a keyhole patient who went on a cruise just 4 weeks later.”
The Health Minister came to the first operation, which had to take place on a Saturday due to issues with access to the robot. Access and funding issues remedied, Mr McCain is hopeful that the robotics could soon be being used “every day” here in the near future.
He spoke about the advancements at our recent Wellbeing Meeting, alongside one of the patients who benefitted from this type of surgery, Liam.
You can read more on the first patient to undergo the surgery here, William Duncan, who shares his story here: Oesophageal cancer: ‘Robotic technology is the way forward’ – BBC News
