Surgeons at Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva performed Israel's first robot-assisted lung transplant in October, Hospital News reports. TPS-IL reports the team used the da Vinci robotic system and a few small chest incisions to connect the new lung to the patient's blood vessels and airways. The usual method means sawing through the breastbone and forcing the ribs apart. Only a handful of medical centers worldwide have done the robotic version, and according to the hospital, about 20 such operations have been performed globally. TPS-IL reports the first was done just three years ago in Spain.
The old approach comes at a cost. TPS-IL reports it causes severe pain and shallow breathing and makes it hard for patients to clear secretions, which raises the risk of infection and can stretch recovery to weeks. A lung transplant is a complex procedure lasting about eight to 10 hours. The new technique better controls pain after surgery, preserves muscles and nerves, and lets patients breathe, cough and clear their lungs, which sharply cuts the risk of pneumonia and infection.
Dr. Dan Gorfil, director of the hospital's cardiothoracic surgical intensive care unit, said one of the hardest parts of recovery is managing severe pain, The Jerusalem Post reports. "The recovery of the patient who underwent robotic-assisted transplantation exceeded all our expectations. He required almost no pain medication beyond paracetamol," he said. The patient had a shorter stay in intensive care and a shorter overall hospitalization than the team had anticipated, according to Hospital News.
Dozens of staff took part, TPS-IL reports, including surgeons, anesthesiologists, heart-lung machine operators, operating room nurses, pulmonologists, intensive care staff and a tissue-typing laboratory. Dr. Shai Fein, director of anesthesia and operating rooms, explained that the robotic arms limit direct access to the patient, so the team planned carefully for ventilation, monitoring and emergencies and ran a dedicated simulation. As a precaution, the patient was connected to a heart-lung machine in advance. About a month earlier, the hospital did a preparatory lung transplant without opening the chest, using just two small incisions.
Dr. Yuri Peysakhovich, head of the thoracic surgery department, led the operation. He told The Jerusalem Post that after decades of relying on the traditional approach, the hospital had brought a genuine revolution to Israel. TPS-IL reports he said the team aims to make robotic surgery without opening the chest the accepted standard within five years.
