Spanish surgeons have performed a lung transplant without having to open the patient’s chest, thanks to a robot. This less invasive technique significantly reduces the pain associated with the operation.
Da Vinci Robot. Credit: Catalan Channel 3/24
For the first time, a lung transplant was performed without having to make a large incision in the patient’s chest. This world first took place at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona, Spain. Surgeons who performed the operation carried out the technique using the Da Vinci robot.
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Non-invasive lung transplant: It’s like being inside the body
During the operation, the surgical team made an incision just 8 cm below the sternum and just above the diaphragm. Here the diseased lung was removed and the donated lung was inserted.
The operation then continued with the insertion of the four arms of the Da Vinci robot through small holes (between 8 and 12 millimeters) in different parts of the chest. A surgeon moved them remotely using a console. The first arm separated the heart from the lungs so as not to interfere with the entry and exit of the lungs, two of the arms carried surgical stripes, and the last arm contained a camera that gave a three-dimensional view of the inside of the body.
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“It’s like being inside the body,” Albert Jáuregui, head of thoracic surgery and lung transplantation at Vall Hebron Hospital, remarked in an interview with Catalan channel 3/24.
Better post-operative recovery
Unlike a traditional lung transplant, this new surgical technique is less invasive. The patient’s recovery and rehabilitation are therefore faster. “With the regular technique, high doses of painkillers are required, which affects recovery and even the patient’s state of consciousness. In this case, he didn’t need anything, and that was enough,” explained Adela Amat, supervisor of the solid organ transplant unit in Vall Hebron.
Xavier Llobet Ordóñez, the first patient to benefit from this non-invasive technique, confirmed Adela Amat’s words. He felt no pain after his lung transplant. “I can say that since I woke up, the pain has been zero. Every day I was asked if I was in pain when I felt nothing,” he said. The 65-year-old had been living with cystic fibrosis in his right lung for more than 10 years.
The lack of pain also allowed him to recover better and take an active part in his rehabilitation. The sizes of his scars were also significantly reduced compared to the traditional technique, reducing the risk of post-operative infection.
