Portuguese hospital performs Europe’s first robotic liver transplant

7 months ago 27

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News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

The transplant was performed earlier this month, on 5 February. [Shutterstock/Natali _ Mis]

Portugal’s Curry Cabral Hospital performed the first robotic liver transplant in Europe on a patient with cirrhosis who is now at home and “recovering well”, the institution said on Thursday.

The transplant was performed earlier this month, on 5 February.

“The historic surgical intervention” lasted nine hours and was led by the director of General Surgery and the Hepato-Bilio-Pancreatic Unit, Hugo Pinto Marques, using a fourth-generation system, the da Vinci XI, which is part of the first Robotic Surgery Centre in Portugal.

“The patient, a 51-year-old Portuguese citizen diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver, has been discharged and is convalescing at home and recovering well,” said the Unidade Local de Saúde (ULS) São José, formerly the Centro Hospitalar Universitário Lisboa Central (CHULC).

Surgeon Hugo Pinto Marques, who commanded the robot, told a press conference at Curry Cabral Hospital that the surgery went without “any problems”, and the patient, who received the organ from a deceased donor, was discharged from the hospital 11 days after the operation.

(Helena Neves | Lusa.pt)