In the first procedure of its kind, Toronto surgeons have reported using a robot to remove a tumor from a lung-cancer patient.
Doctors at Toronto General Hospital used the new robotic surgical system to remove a penny-sized tumor from a 78-year-old man.
The surgical team, led by Dr. Kazuhiro Yasufuku at Toronto General, said the case opens the door for using the minimally invasive procedure – known as the da Vinci Surgical System -- on other patients.
“More than 70 percent of lung cancers have a good chance of being cured, if they are treated early enough, so we have brought together a team of surgeon-scientists, who [will] use and further develop the latest technology to try and change lung cancer’s horrible statistics,” said Yasufuku, in a release issued by the hospital.
He said the future of cancer treatment will involve robotics since it can incorporate different imaging techniques to guide surgeons to perform surgery more safely and precisely.
Hospital officials said the day after his robotic surgery, Stanley Skorpid, 78, was able to get out of bed and eat cornflakes for breakfast. On the third day, he walked the hospital hallways; on the fifth day, he was discharged.
Today he is cancer-free, according to his doctors.
“I’m still here,” Skorpid said. “I’m feeling good.”
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for men and women.