Italian Doctors Perform Robot-Assisted Pancreatic Transplant

A team of doctors at the University Hospital in Pisa have performed the first ever Da Vinci SHDI robot assisted pancreas transplantation procedure on a 43 year old woman, suffering from type one diabetes.

This new minimally invasive treatment option for diabetics does not involve major post-operative problems.

The transplant  was  carried out via three small fissures and a three  inch incision by the surgeons. The entire procedure was completed within three hours and the patient was discharged within three days following the surgery. Ugo Boggi headed the team and he stated that this new technique of performing pancreatic transplants can effectively replace the highly invasive traditional methods featuring post- surgical complications due to the vulnerability of the diabetic patients  and vascular nature of the pancreas.

The Da Vinci SHDI robot was developed in the multidisciplinary Robotic Surgery centre in Pisa and this medical center has already performed the first ever robotic kidney transplant surgery in July.