Boy undergoes robotic surgery in Delhi

A 10-year-old boy who suffered from a collapsed vertebra at the mid-chest level, which led to compression of the spinal cord with a large collection of pus in the area, has undergone robotic surgery, health experts said Thursday.

Initially diagnosed with tuberculosis, Shivam from Jharkhand underwent the surgery July 15. The procedure took about two hours. Once he recovered from the surgery, his vertebrae were fixed from behind after a week to enable early mobilisation.

"Standard surgery involves a large cut in the chest and over the back with prolonged hospital stay. Pain after the procedure can make the recovery slow.

"After reviewing the scans, robotic instrumentation and discussion, it was felt that the procedure can be attempted robotically and if successful would give the child benefit of this technology," said Rajendra Prasad, senior consultant-neurosurgery, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals.

Arun Prasad, senior consultant-minimal access surgery said minimally invasive surgeries have been associated with better outcomes than open surgery.

Health experts said this is for the first time in the world that robotic surgery has been performed for such problem.

Prasad said though the surgery is expensive by over Rs.40,000 to Rs.50,000 than the normal surgeries, it comes with various other benefits.