Medical Breakthrough
World's first hi-tech pancreas transplant
For the first time in the world, Italian doctors have recently carried out robotically-assisted pancreatic transplant in an operation that could help diabetes sufferers everywhere.
Pancreas is a gland that secrets the hormone insulin needed to reduce blood sugar and prevent diabetes. People whose pancreases have damaged or have lack of insulin secretion could be benefitted greatly by this sort of transplants. The new minimally invasive transplant creates new prospects for the treatment of diabetics as it has minimal post-operation complications than other conventional operation.
"This will put an end to the decades-old dilemma of whether it's possible to do pancreatic transplants because the operation is so invasive when done in the traditional way," Ugo Boggi, who heads the team, expressed.
The transplant was carried out on a 43-year-old mother of two who had suffered from type-1 diabetes since she was 24 years old and had already had a kidney transplant.
The medical team carried out the operation with the assistance of the "Da Vinci SHDI robot" — a large machine with several arms — designed in the multi-disciplinary Robotic Surgery centre in Pisa.
Source: AFP
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