A 10-year-old boy undergoes robotic surgery at a city hospital

A 10-year-old boy from Jharkhand suffering from a collapsed vertebra underwent a robotic surgery at a city hospital here.
The patient, Shivam, suffered from a collapsed vertebra at the mid chest level leading to compression of the spinal cord along with a large collection of pus in that area.
Initially diagnosed with Tuberculosis, he was referred to Indraprastha Apollo hospital where doctors after reviewing the case suggested robotic surgery as the best treatment option.
"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 and return to normal activities slow. After review of scans, it was felt that the procedure can be attempted robotically and if successful would give the child benefit of this latest technology," said Dr Rajendra Prasad, Senior Consultant-Neurosurgery, Indraprastha Apollo.

Minimally invasive surgery, which uses a few small incisions rather than one large incision, has been associated with better outcome than open surgery, including fewer surgical site infections, less pain and shorter hospital stays, said Dr Arun Prasad, Senior Consultant-Minimal Access Surgery.
Doctors performed the surgery on Shivam on July 15. The procedure took about two hours and once Shivam recovered from the procedure, the vertebrae were fixed from behind a week later so as to enable early mobilization.

"Shivam can now walk very comfortably," said Dr Prasad.
Robotic technology adds to better patient management by providing surgeons with superior visualisation, enhanced dexterity, and greater precision and ergonomic comfort.

The da vinci surgical system makes it possible for surgeons to perform minimally invasive procedures involving complex dissection or reconstruction.
Since surgeons no longer need to stand throughout the surgery, they don't get unduly tired. Natural hand tremors are also filtered out by the robot's computer software, explained Dr Prasad.