Under a robot's knife

Updated on: 24 November,2009 11:26 AM IST |
Vivek Sabnis |

City hospital becomes India's first private institute to perform cancer surgeries with help of robot surgeons

City hospital becomes India's first private institute to perform cancer surgeries with help of robot surgeons

Picture this. You have been advised surgery for a life threatening illness like cancer. While you're nervously wait ing for the surgeon in the operation theatre to cut out the 'diseased' part, what greets you instead is a four-armed robot.

While your surgeon is sitting a few feet away guiding his latest toy with a joystick.

That is exactly what is going to happen from November 30 as city-based Galaxy Laparoscopy Institute will perform robotic cancer operations.

The technology has been brought to the hospital by laparoscopic surgeon Dr Shailesh Puntambekar who has recently won the Golden Laparoscopy Award of American Association of Gynecological Laparoscopies.

Speaking to MiD DAY, he said that the first two operations, by using the robot, will be done on patients suffering from cancer of uterus and esophagus. "Robotic operations minimise human errors. Operations are done with the help of joysticks by which you can move the robot hand to more than 90 degree and reach the deepest part of the human body," he said adding, "We are trying to achieve the standard of scar less or 'one hole surgery' with robotics in the next three months."