3X cancer operations in Bradford since 2012​

Surgeons will observe a pioneering robotic operation tomorrow that has helped sufferers of prostate cancer recover more quickly after surgery.

The robot-assisted procedure allows surgeons to use finer instruments, in a

more precise manner that causes less damage and blood loss to the body, which can lead to a speedier recovery for the patient.

Bradford Teaching Hospitals’ consultant urological surgeon, Mr Sanjai Addla, who is hosting the event, wants surgeons to improve upon their service by taking the techniques they observe at Bradford back to their hospitals.

“We, as surgeons, will be able to pick up new techniques by watching him perform at close hand.

“This means we can then bring them back to our own hospitals and improve the service that we offer patients even more.”

During an operation the surgeon sits down by a console, equipped with a 3D view of the surgical area, where the technology translates their hand movements into more honed and delicate actions that are then carried out by the machine.

And even though the computer system is designed to pick up hand movements it is also designed to ignore any of a surgeon’s trembles, if it is picked up by the machine.

The surgeons will arrive at Bradford Royal Infirmary tomorrow morning to observe the operation on a patient with locally-advanced prostate cancer.

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“I put the Da Vinci robot’s success in local awareness of prostate cancer down to its fantastic results regarding patient recovery times.”

Sovereign Health Care Charitable Trust donated £200,000 towards the machine but surgeons’ training on it is continuous, with a Urology Robotic Fund specially set up by the Hospitals Foundation Trust to pay for it.