Hospital successfully performs robotic surgery to treat patients with rare medical condition

Ahmedabad: A 37-year-old patient, suffering from acute abdominal pain caused by a rare medical condition, was successfully treated by robotic surgery.

The surgery was performed at a hospital in Ahmedabad on Friday.

Referred to as 'Celiac Artery Compression Syndrome', the medical condition is found in one among 100,000 humans and is characterised by abdominal pain from compression of the celiac artery.

Surgery is currently the only treatment option and involves releasing the ligament that causes the compression.

However, reaching the celiac artery through conventional surgery is not easy because it is located deep under the crus of the diaphragm.

"Using a four-armed surgical robot, I was able to reach the root of the celiac artery where human fingers could not," gastro intestinal surgeon Apurva Vyas of Sterling Hospitals in Ahmedabad said in a statement.

Vyas, who used the da Vinci surgical robot for the procedure, said, "The three-dimensional high definition view magnified the artery multi-fold to help me achieve precision that prevented collateral damage to healthy tissue, arteries and nerves."

He added, "I was happy to see the patient recover quickly. He was back home on the third day post surgery."

Celiac artery compression can be loosely compared to a heart attack-like situation of the digestive system.

The patient suffers severe pain as soon as he starts eating and is hardly able to eat enough for the body's needs.

This case was presented at US-based non-profit Vattikuti Foundation's bi-annual Robotic Surgeons Council meet in Chennai earlier this month.

Vyas said, three follow-up visits have shown that the patients is doing well and is back to his regular diet intake without any recurrence of symptoms.

(With IANS inputs)