The surgeon Roberto Manfredi at the console
Already used for the removal of urological and gynecological tumors, the robot of the Bergamo Hospital is now in use for the colon cancer treatment. The operating room that houses the robotic surgical platform has hosted in the past few weeks seven speeches for removing left colon tumors. With the intervention of Wednesday 1st December, successfully performed on a 70-year-old man suffering from tumor in the right side of the colon, it can be said the introduction of surgery completed robotics for the treatment of this abdominal neoplasm.
Technology
One year after the first intervention carried out with the new robot at the Bergamo Hospital, the ‘third pillar’ of the robotic surgery program and the General abdominal surgery directed by Alessandro Lucianetti. The surgery on Wednesday 1 December saw surgeons operate Roberto Manfredi to the robot console, e Emanuele Rausa at the operating table with the assistance of the instrumental nurse Francesca Rota. Also among those present in the room Giuseppe Spinoglio, former director of the Surgery of IEO of Milan. Spinoglio also followed the various preliminary training phases of the surgical team as a tutor. The exercises at the robot console and at the operating table have also been followed in recent months by Luca Morelli, Director of Robotic Surgery of the University Hospital of Pisa. As responsible for the development of the robotic activity, Lucianetti also identified Paolo Bertoli, who assisted Manfredi in previous robot-assisted operations as a surgeon at the operating table.
“The technological innovation represented by the robot is an additional opportunity that we wanted to introduce and make available for our patients who need treatment for an abdominal tumor. – has explained Lucianetti –. The technical skills and above all the clinical experience of our surgical team will remain central, even in the future. Based on the evaluation of each patient, it is always the surgeon who must identify the technique – between robotic, laparoscopic and traditional surgery – that minimizes risks and maximizes results. In short, the machine will not replace man. But the robot offers, in cases where it is possible to use it, undeniable advantages”.
Robotic surgery guarantees one less invasive than traditional surgery ‘open sky’. Access to the operating field is through small holes, without having to resort to extensive surgical incisions. This results for the patient in less post-operative pain and in faster recovery times. The smaller wounds present lower risk of complications, such as infections or bleeding. Finally, the faster is resumption of ordinary daily activity and of organ functions, specifically the intestinal ones. Finally, failure to cut has a positive reflection from the point of view aesthetic. For the surgeon, robotic surgery systems guarantee extreme precision in movements. The vision of the operating field is also favored by the enormous optical magnification and the detail possibilities offered by the monitor with three-dimensional vision.
Advantages so far made available to patients for the treatment of prostate and kidney cancers and for i ovarian tumors, respectively in Urology and in Gynecology. With the introduction of the Surgery 1 as a third structure involved, Pope John anticipates the directives of the Lombardy Region for 2022 and that is the request to hospitals equipped with the robot extend its use to a multidisciplinary dimension, with the involvement of various surgical operating units.
A request that follows the program for the implementation of robotic surgery of the Lombardy Region, which just a year ago allowed Pope John of Bergamo to enrich his technological equipment with the robotic platform. On the day of the first intervention with the new robot, 25 November 2020, a consolidated robotic surgery expertise. The professionals of Pope John had one assets experience that few public hospitals are able to offer, with 300 surgeries carried out, in the urological and gynecological fields, thanks also to the sharing for 36 months, between 2015 and 2017, of a similar robot for periods alternating with the ASST Lariana. This is why a robotic surgery development program, planned and coordinated by Luigi From Pozzo, professor of Urology at the University of Milan Bicocca and director of the Surgical Department of Pope John XXIII. A program that was favored by the coexistence at the Bergamo Hospital of a large number of cases and a vocation for oncological surgery.
Surgery for abdominal tumors
The surgery of the abdominal tumors, which to Pope John is performed by Surgery 1 directed by Alessandro Lucianetti with a highly complex case history, is among the most promising activities in the field of robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery. The potential of the robot, as well as in colon cancers, can in perspective be exploited for the surgical removal of neoplasms of the gastrointestinal tract in the rectum and stomach. Crucial to the timely detection of these tumors is diagnostic activity which to Pope John XXIII is carried out by the Gastroenterology 2 – digestive endoscopy, directed by Salvatore Greco. Thanks to this and other multidisciplinary collaborations, the team of thoraco-abdominal surgeons deals, among other things, with tumors of the esophagus, small intestine, treatment of melanomi e sarcomi and surgical interventions dell’area pneumo-mediastinica, for the treatment of the most important lung and pleural diseases, both oncological and functional. As part of the Trauma Center of reference of the Lombardy Region, Surgery 1 is finally active for interventions in urgency of acute problems of the thoraco-abdominal area, both traumatic and deriving from organic pathologies, such as pneumothorax, visceral occlusion and perforation, acute cholecystitis, appendicitis. Emergency procedures are also performed, where indicated, with a minimally invasive technique.
“The robot allows us to continue a strategic activity for public hospitals that operate on highly complex cases – commented Maria Beatrice Stasi, director general of the ASST Pope John XXIII -. For this I thank Dr. Luigi Da Pozzo, who has always shown his belief in the potential of this technological innovation, and all the professionals who make it possible to introduce innovative surgical techniques at the service of our patients. On the other hand, as company management we can only facilitate with determination the acquisition of the most up-to-date technological resources which, together with high-caliber professionals, characterize a highly specialized hospital such as Pope John “.