The 13-year-old girl suffered from a heart defect. Rather than making her endure the effects of an open heart operation, the surgeons operated on her with the help of the Da Vinci robot. An assisted surgery technology so far applied to adults. The operation is a first and a success.
Robot-assisted operation
“She was really happy, she had no scars and was quite mobile. The effects of heart surgery, which are still heavy, were not seen much“, says Gebrine El Khoury, head of the cardiology department at Saint-Luc university clinics, at the microphone of Olivier Pierre. The Da Vinci robot is the extension of the surgeon’s hand and if the articulated arm holds the scalpel, it is good the surgeon in charge, his eyes riveted on a screen Thanks to the three-dimensional image, the doctor is immersed in the patient’s body as he could never see it.
Size and weight constraints
“The interest is to be able to use this wonderful technique which is robotics and to apply it to smaller children. The ideal would still be to go down in the ages but we have size and weight constraints to apply this technology“, explains Jean Rubay, pediatric cardiac surgeon.
Decrease surgical aggression
With their expertise in valve repair, Saint Luc surgeons have been operating on adults on the heart for three years using this technique. This is the first time it has been used on a child. “These are instruments which are small, which allow through small orifices, also using a camera, to reach the level of the heart and to make a classic surgical repair while greatly reducing surgical aggression.“, describes Philippe Noirhomme, cardiac surgeon.
Since 2012, around 100 patients have been operated on with the help of the Da Vinci robot. The result of teamwork made up of nurses, anesthetists and doctors specially trained in this tool. A team today not a little proud of the result.
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