Make way for robots in the operating room. From bariatric and metabolic surgery to abdominal wall hernia surgery, up to pancreatic, gastric or colorectal surgery, robotic technology is ready to overtake traditional laparoscopy. Word of the experts who spoke at the national conference ‘Spotlight on robotic surgery’ which has just ended in Naples. Operation after operation, they explain, “scientific evidence accumulates showing the superiority of robotic surgeries compared to laparoscopic or open ones. The surgeon-robot combination”, because ‘flesh and blood’ doctors remain crucial and the machine it does not replace humans, “it can in fact improve outcomes in the operating room, reducing recovery times and complications”.
“Robotic surgery in the field of general surgery is experiencing a period of great evolution, with an ever greater increase in the number of robotic platforms within our hospitals – states Paolo Pietro Bianchi, president of the Italian Club of Robotic Surgery and professor ordinary at the State University of Milan – This technological ‘revolution’ inevitably leads to the need to scientifically validate the method in the various areas of general surgery and to establish structured training programs, so as to be able to adequately and safely train the greatest number of surgeons”.
The objective of the Campania event was to provide surgeons from all over Italy with an educational update with live operations, projections of operations from the surgeon’s position (relive) and masterful reports, reports a note. “The technology is mature and, with the right training of staff in the operating room, robotic surgery is destined to improve the outcomes of operations with undoubted advantages for patients – declares Marco Milone, vice president of the Italian Club of Robotic Surgery and associate professor of general surgery at the University of Naples Federico II – Thanks to the latest technological innovations, it is possible to improve the quality of the surgical gesture. A technologically advanced platform allows the movements of the surgeon’s hand to be miniaturized, making them increasingly precise, safe and effective effective. The field of application ranges from radical surgery for hepato-biliary-pancreatic, esophago-gastric and colorectal neoplasms, to conservative surgery for functional pathologies of the digestive system and reconstructive surgery of the abdominal wall”.
The validation of robotic procedures is happening very rapidly – the specialists underline – and in some fields it is proving progressively superior to more traditional techniques. As in the case of abdominal wall hernia repair, a common surgical procedure. In a study conducted by Milone and published in the ‘Journal of Personalized Medicine’, the superiority of robotic surgery compared to laparoscopic surgery in the treatment of inguinal and ventral hernias was demonstrated. “This meta-analysis of 23 previous studies has shown that robotic surgery is advantageous for inguinal hernia in reducing postoperative pain – explains Milone – While in robotic ventral hernia repair there has been a reduction in hospital stay, fewer recurrences and fewer reoperation rates compared to the laparoscopic approach”.
On the front of colorectal cancer surgery, a study from the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, published in the ‘World Journal of Surgical Oncology’, showed that patients undergoing robotic surgery benefited from shorter hospital stays and lower complication rates in the vast majority of colectomy cases, which is the surgical removal of part of the large intestine. “Furthermore – adds Giovanni Domenico De Palma, director of the Department of General Surgery, Transplants and Gastroenterology, also at the Polyclinic of Naples – a greater number of lymph nodes were removed from these patients, which led to a more precise determination of the cancer staging As regards metabolic and bariatric surgery, indicated for severely obese patients, 2 new studies presented at the latest annual meeting of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery suggest that surgery with robots reduces operating times and hospital stays. , with fewer complications than laparoscopic approaches.”
“It is increasingly evident – concludes Milone – that the surgeon who dedicates himself to robotic surgery is configured as a reference expert for the treatment of numerous pathologies and therefore requires adequate skills. The fact that surgeons from all over the national territory choose Naples to learn robotic surgery demonstrates the excellence of the surgery of the Federico II University of Naples and becomes a testimonial of a necessary reversal of the North-South healthcare migration”.
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