Robots help doctors conduct successful paediatric surgery

Robots successfully assisted the doctors at the National Hospital of Paediatrics's Centre of Paediatrics Endoscopic Surgery to conduct surgeries on ten patients since the centre became operational four weeks ago.

Of the ten operated patients, 17-month-old Hai Bang from the northern Thai Binh Province is recovering well after doctors conducted robot-assisted surgery on her kidney on Monday, said her mother, Nguyen Thi Thu Hien.


"After hearing about the robotic surgery, I was very worried at first. However, I now quite trust the new technology because my daughter is in a stable condition", she noted.

In another case, a child from the Ha Noi's Hoang Mai District, who suffered from large intestine infection, had undergone a two-hour robotic operation and is now on the way to recovery.

The patient's mother, Huynh Thi Kim Dung remarked that the child was able to eat and drink normally just a day after the operation, adding that her family now completely trusted the new technology.

Pham Duy Hien, the vice head of the hospital's Department of Surgery, claimed that robotic surgery had helped to overcome the shortcomings of normal endoscopic surgery, thanks to the robots' flexible joints.

"Patients undergoing robotic operation recover faster than those having open surgery", Hien stressed.

According to Hospital Director Le Thanh Hai, one advantage of using the method is that the surgeon does not have to be physically present, but can be anywhere in the world, leading to the possibility of remote surgery.

Hai also added that robotically assisted surgery was developed to overcome the limitations of minimally invasive surgery and to enhance the capabilities of surgeons performing open surgery.

"The centre's foundation will help offer international standard medical services to Vietnamese children", he emphasised, adding that the cost of robotic surgery in foreign countries is estimated to be US$30,000, but in Viet Nam, it costs only from VND50-70 million (US$2,000-3,500).

Robotic surgery, computer-assisted surgery, and robotically-assisted surgery are all terms deployed for technological developments that use robotic systems to assist surgical procedures.

Viet Nam is the first country in Southeast Asia and the second in Asia to apply this advanced technology in surgery.