Cancer patient has new bladder created by a robot
Surgeons at Southmead Hospital, in Bristol, have developed a technique in which they remove a cancerous bladder through a tiny incision and, through the same opening, replace it with a substitute bladder created by a robot – the Da Vinci – from the patient’s own tissues.
Ken Harries, 61, was diagnosed with bladder cancer last May and underwent the procedure, known as a radical cystectomy and neo-bladder, in October.
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Hide AdMr Harries, from Downside, near Bath, has recovered from the surgery to become the first person to have a bladder constructed robotically in the UK.
Mr Harries said: “I suppose I was a little bit shocked when they said I’d be the first, but that soon disappeared and it was a very simple choice.
“The only way I could look at the cancer was to say ‘I am going to beat this’, and I am so glad I decided to go through with the operation.”
The keyhole surgery is less invasive, because the hospital’s Da Vinci robot has greater precision and the procedure as a whole has a faster recovery time. The £1.5 million surgical robot – which a surgeon controls from a nearby console – is so precise it can peel a grape.
The procedure is being carried out by Southmead’s consultant urologists, Edward Rowe and Anthony Koupparis.
Mr Rowe said: “Our abilities to carry out urological procedures robotically is expanding and we are developing a real expertise.”