A patient who underwent Britain’s first total pelvic extraction using robotic surgery is “recovering well”, surgeons said.
The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust conducted the pioneering treatment on the patient, Dean Walter, to treat his advanced rectal cancer.
The 41-year-old from south London underwent the radical procedure, which removes all of the organs from the pelvic area, with robotic surgical technology – believed to be for the first time in Britain.
The trust said that traditionally the surgery would have involved a large incision – from the chest down to the pubic bone – but using the robotic technology meant the surgery was “minimally invasive”.
Surgeons at the trust operated on the patient using four robotic arms equipped with surgical equipment, controlled from a remote console.
After making small incisions to access the abdomen and pelvis, they used the arms to remove tissue and organs effected by the cancer.
