Robot for women with gynaecological cancers

A Christchurch surgeon is using a robot to remove gynaecological cancers for the first time in New Zealand.

Gynaecologist Michael Laney said he had done three operations using the Da Vinci robot, which he operated sitting at a console with a camera relaying an internal image to his screen.

Laney said both patients and surgeons benefited.

The instruments had a greater range of movement than the human wrist, which, along with 3D vision and tenfold magnification, made operating more precise and "easy". The machine also eliminated surgeon tremors and helped with surgeon fatigue, he said.

Patients had less blood loss, fewer complications and a quicker recovery after robot surgery.

Robot-assisted surgery had also been available to Kiwi men for prostate surgery for "some years", but was only now being offered to women.

Laney said he was not doing more operations using the robot because it was more expensive than regular laparoscopic surgery and insurers had to be convinced to meet the costs.

Laney, who has been a gynaecologist since 1980, said the new technology was "tremendously exciting".

"Consultants I worked for when training were doing pretty much the same surgery when they retired as [when they] started," he said.

Laney travelled to the US this year to train in the use of the robot.

He said looking at huge 3D images of the vessels and nerves was like a surgeon's "wonderland".

- © Fairfax NZ News