Two patients with serious issues stemming from obesity undergo surgery using robot-assisted tool

New Delhi: Two patients suffering from serious health issues arising due to obesity were operated using a new robot-assisted surgical stapler technique at a private hospital here, according to a statement issued on Wednesday.

Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals has become the first hospital to perform a live workshop in India for this technology, it said.

The use of newly available robotic tool was demonstrated in a live surgery conducted by Dr Arun Prasad, Senior GI, Bariatric and Robotic Surgeon at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals and Former president of Obesity Surgery Society of India.

Two patients suffering with serious manifestations of obesity were successfully operated through this robot-assisted surgical stapler, called SureForm.

This is the first use ever of Artificial Intelligence in Robotic Surgery, said the statement.

The Stapler gives a feedback on the screen regarding the positioning, suitability, right thickness, right speed of stapling etc to the surgeon. Stapler will not fire unless predefined safety criteria are met fully thereby reducing further the chances of any human error.

With an intent to introduce this breakthrough Robot-Assisted Surgical Tool in their own countries, top surgeons from UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, USA, Mexico, Turkey and Russia too joined the live workshop virtually.

Bariatric surgeries conducted through this smart technology give surgeons the control to fire the stapler from the console and retain a complete control and autonomy over the surgery. The robot assistance make the bariatric surgical procedures less complex and enable the surgeons to operate through deep tissues.

With an accurate precession, the recovery time reduces for the patients and better post-operative outcomes can be achieved.

The two patients were suffering from complexities like sleep apnea, hypertension, joint pain, diabetes etc., due to extreme obesity.

With this tool their surgical procedure was optimised and a consistent staple line was administered to prevent the tissue damage, the statement said.