Avishai Teicher / PikiWiki, CC BY 2.5; Beilinson, 2010 archive crop.
Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva performed a robot-assisted lung transplant last month using small incisions instead of a large chest opening, according to a hospital account made public Monday, November 2. Doctors said they hope the approach will reduce pain and make recovery easier for selected patients.
The hospital said surgeons used the da Vinci system to connect the donor lung to the patient’s blood vessels and airway. Dr. Yuri Peisakhovich, director of thoracic surgery, led the operation.
Reducing the size of the chest opening is intended to limit injury to muscles and nerves. The medical team said less pain could help patients breathe, cough and clear secretions after transplantation. Those are the team’s aims, not a demonstrated outcome for lung-transplant patients generally.
The hospital account described extensive preparation across surgery, anesthesia, nursing, intensive care and other specialties. Dr. Shai Fine, director of anesthesiology and operating rooms, said the robot’s arms can restrict immediate access to the patient, requiring careful emergency planning. The team rehearsed in a dedicated simulation and connected the patient to a heart-lung machine in advance as a precaution, he said.
The robotic operation followed a separate minimally invasive lung transplant at Beilinson about a month earlier, performed through two small incisions without a robot. The hospital said that experience helped the team prepare for the robotic procedure.
Dr. Dan Gurfiel, who heads cardiac and thoracic surgery intensive care, reported that the patient’s early recovery exceeded expectations, with almost no pain medication needed beyond paracetamol. He said the patient also spent less time in intensive care and in the hospital overall.
That account concerns one patient. The hospital account did not provide comparative outcome data establishing that robotic lung transplantation produces faster or safer recovery than conventional surgery. Peisakhovich described making the approach standard practice within five years as an aspiration, not an existing standard of care.
JBizNews Desk | New York
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