UZ Brussel performs world’s first double robotic surgery
UZ Brussel is the first hospital in the world to carry out surgery using two robots simultaneously. The process is much less invasive for the patient and results in less pain and less time spent in hospital. It also allows surgeons to operate much more precisely.
The surgery was a lymph node transplant. These nodes in the neck, armpits and groin are full of white blood cells required to fight diseases. The patient operated on in Brussels had lymphoedema, a build-up of fluid in and under the skin that can cause swelling in various parts of the body, in this case in the arm of the patient, who had developed the lymphoedema after breast surgery.
In 2018, UZ Brussel – the teaching hospital of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Jette – was the first in Europe to perform a robot-assisted lymph node transplant. The hospital is now building on its expertise in such treatments.
“The robot allows us to free the necessary tissue from the stomach via generally smaller scars and finer instruments with more dexterity,” says abdominal surgeon Martijn Schoneveld. It reduces the surgeon’s hand movements by 20 times, removing even minimal vibrations of the hand. Patients also recover more quickly after surgery.
Lymphoedema can be congenital or the result of cancer treatment, radiation or infection. It results from an accumulation of lymph fluid in connective tissue, resulting in swelling. Normally, this fluid is drained through lymphatic vessels and glands, but if this process is disrupted by, for example, malfunctioning lymphatic vessels or removal of lymph nodes, fluid can accumulate. Up to 30% of breast cancer patients suffer from lymphoedema.