Please support our £1 million appeal
and help us to keep ‘Robbie’ working.
‘Robbie’, the da Vinci robot, has
transformed prostate cancer operations at the Royal Berkshire
Hospital.
The robot provides the latest in state of the
art robotic assisted surgery: this allows surgeons to perform
radical prostate operations using all the clinical and technical
capabilities of traditional open surgery, whilst enabling them to
operate through the tiny incisions which characterise ‘keyhole’
surgery.
The Royal Berkshire NHS Trust acquired the da Vinci robot with a
down payment from a very generous donation. To complete the
purchase and own ‘Robbie’ outright we have to raise £1m over the
next three years.
The campaign is supported by the Reading Post (Getreading).
Benefits
For patients robot surgery brings a number of
benefits which contribute to a quicker return to normal life.
These include:
- significantly less pain
- less risk of wound infection
- reduced scarring
- faster recovery times
- less blood loss and lower requirements for transfusion.
The da Vinci robot uses four interactive robotic arms to carry
out the surgery. At all times the surgeon is in complete control:
his or her hand movements are scaled, filtered and seamlessly
translated into precise real-time movements. The 3D view and
magnification allow intricate dissection and complex reconstruction
that would be difficult with conventional keyhole surgery.
Surgeon, Lt. Col. Zaheer Shah said “The robot offers a less
painful procedure with a quicker recovery time and fewer side
effects and has so far proven to be equally effective as open
surgery for dealing with cancer, as well as being less likely to
cause impotence or incontinence. It is extremely rewarding to
be able to offer the best possible treatment at the lowest possible
risk with the quickest recovery to all of
my patients throughout the country as ‘Robbie’ is
available to all patients in England”.
His colleague, Surgeon Adam Jones, enthused: “The da Vinci robot
has allowed us to offer the benefits of keyhole surgery to a much
larger group of patients. In conjunction with our brachytherapy
(radiotherapy) programme, it gives our patients the widest choice
in state of the art prostate cancer treatments.”
Speed of recovery
Talking about the benefits to patients Peter Boltwood said: “I
have been amazed at the speed of my recovery: within an hour I was
sharing my experience with BBC South Today, two days later I was
back at home. Life is now back to normal. I am working and playing
golf and the scars have all but disappeared. I would have no
hesitation in recommending this surgery to other men faced with the
same decision.”