First-Ever Robotic Pancreatectomy Performed

Groundbreaking robotic pancreatic surgery, performed to relieve a 39-year-old man of debilitating pain, included an autologous islet cell transplant to prevent him from developing surgical diabetes.

During the procedure, surgeons at the University of Illinois Medical Center (UIC; Chicago, USA) inserted the laparoscope and robotic arms of a da Vinci surgical system through five small incisions in the patient's abdomen. The pancreas was then removed through a two-inch incision. After removing 60% of the patient's pancreas, the physicians isolated insulin-producing islet cells from the pancreas in the laboratory, which were then taken back to the operating room and injected through a catheter into a vein in the patient's liver. By transplanting the patient's own islets cells, there was no risk of rejection as in other organ transplants, and the cells lodged in the liver to make insulin.

"Removing a chronically inflamed pancreas in a patient with chronic pancreatitis is a very difficult operation, even with a large incision,” said Dr. Jose Oberholzer, associate professor of surgery and bioengineering at UIC and director of cell and pancreas transplantation at the medical center. "We were surprised to experience that doing this surgery with the robotic system made it almost easier than doing the case via a large incision with the open technique.”

Robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery, performed with such systems as the da Vinci surgical system, a product of Intuitive Surgery (Sunnyvale, CA, USA), provides a level of dexterity not possible with traditional laparoscopic instruments. While seated at a surgical console, physicians view the operating field in three dimensions (3D) and use computerized controls to precisely manipulate instruments inside the patient, with 360° range of motion.


Related Links:
University of Illinois Medical Center
Intuitive Surgery