• Whipple procedure is a very complex operation, mainly performed to remove pancreatic cancer

Ahmedabad: Zydus hospital, a leading multispecialty hospital in Ahmedabad, performed a unique robotic assisted surgery to save a 68 year old cancer patient. The surgery called ‘Whipple procedure’ was done with the help of one of the best robotic-assisted surgery systems, da Vinci Xi made by US based Intuitive. This is the first time ever a whipple procedure is being performed with the help of a surgical robot in Gujarat.

This patient, who is a mathematics professor from Bihar, was diagnosed with periampullary tumor. After doing pre-operative workup, the doctors at Zydus decided to go for minimally invasive robotic surgery. Though this operation lasted for 10 hours, the patient had a very good post-operative recovery, and he started taking food in 2 days and got discharge from the hospital within 6 days.

Dr. Bhavin Patel, who lead this procedure, said, “Whipple’s is a very complex operation, mainly performed to remove pancreatic cancer. Traditionally this operation is performed by open surgery with large incisions of 15-20 cms over abdomen, and it comes with a lot of post-surgical complications such as infection and leakage. As we are making large incisions, it will require high amount blood transfusion, as well. But, now with advanced surgical technologies like da Vinci Xi, we had an option to do it through minimal invasive method. We are really glad that we could successfully do the first ever robotic whipple surgery in Gujarat, and we hope that many patients with complex GI and pancreatic tumor will benefit by robotic assisted surgery in future.”

“Da Vinci Xi robotic surgical system is a great help for surgeons. It provides great 3D vision and ergonomic instrumentation which gives very much precision during surgery,” Dr. Patel added.

Dr. Patel is an experienced robotic surgeon, who has 25 years of experience in minimal invasive surgery.

Commenting on his fast recovery, Mr. Virendra Kumar Singh, 68 year old cancer survivor said, “I am really thankful to Dr. Bhavin Patel and the entire team at Zydus hospital. Without them I wouldn’t have been recovered so fast. I feel it as a miracle, as I was completely fit within 3 days of my surgery.”

This operation of pancreatic cancer is considered as one of the most complex GI surgeries and it has been performed robotically, only in very few centres across the world. This procedure requires to remove a part of pancreas, duodenum, bile duct, gall bladder, and the surgeons need to reconnect all these parts after the removal of cancer tissues. This requires meticulous reconstruction, hence this surgery is done only by highly trained surgeons.

About Zydus Hospital

Zydus Hospitals is a Super speciality medical institution spanning 16 floors and 2 basement floors in Ahmedabad. This world class & highly sophisticated medical establishment offers all major medical specialities, sub-specialities, investigation & diagnostics facility, rehabilitation & physical therapy care under one roof. Hospital’s design ensures higher energy efficiency by allowing greater permeation of sun light throughout the day and harnessing solar energy for hot water provisioning throughout the hospital complex.

The hospital management has very selectively appointed the best of American / Europe Trained Medical Specialists, Paramedics, Nursing & Administrative Staff. This would be amongst the handful hospitals in its league which have dedicated full time medical specialists. This shall ensure complete round the clock care and availability.