Robot surgeon revolutionises cancer surgery

11:09am Thursday 18th October 2007

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He has the steadiest of hands, is immune from human error and never drinks while on call.

Say hello to da Vinci S, a pioneering surgeon proving to be a cut above the rest at the Royal Marsden Hospital.

The £2million robotic device, with tweezer-like hands and a designer Italian name, is revolutionising the treatment of prostate cancer sufferers in Sutton.

Instead of being cut open, patients now have four tiny incisions made in their abdomen, through which the rotatable robotic arms are inserted.

Doctors sit with the patient in front of a screen and manoeuvre the arms from an enclosed console, like something off the Starship Enterprise.

The extended vision and magnification of the robotic surgeon gives them more than 1,000 times the accuracy of the human hand when removing cancerous prostate glands.

A Royal Marsden spokesman said: "At more than 6ft, da Vinci is an impressive looking machine, which is designed to perform complex operations through smaller incisions.

"What makes da Vinci truly special is its ability to cut and manipulate tissue in the same way that a surgeon carrying out open surgery would do, but through a tiny hole.

"The robot will support the further development of minimally invasive surgical techniques at the Royal Marsden, resulting in a quicker recovery and a shorter stay in hospital."

Da Vinci S, with running costs of £100,000 a year, is the most technologically advanced robotic surgery system in the world.

It was originally intended to allow surgeons to conduct operations on wounded soldiers from a safe place away from the battlefield. There are only five similar machines in the UK.