Health and Wellness
Question by Mr M Booysen
With regard to the robotic surgery units at the Groote Schuur and Tygerberg hospitals:
(a) How many surgeries were completed at these units in (i) 2023 and (ii) 2024 to date, (b) what procedures are these units currently capable of performing and (c) what is the impact of these units on patients’ well-being?
(a)(i) Tygerberg Hospital: 207
Groote Schuur Hospital: 83
(a)(ii) Tygerberg Hospital: 110
Groote Schuur Hospital: 47
(b) The procedures that are done at Tygerberg Hospital and Groote Schuur Hospital:
Colorectal surgery (colorectal cancers and pelvic organ prolapse), abdominal wall reconstructions (hernia surgery, urology (prostate cancer, kidney cancer, bladder cancer and urethral reconstructions), gynaecology (advanced endometriosis and gynae oncology), and some general surgery.
These include robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery (RALP), partial nephrectomy, pyeloplasty, complex reconstructive procedures and radical cystectomy total mesorectal excision, ventral mesh rectopexy, proctectomy and ileoanal pouch, and colectomies, hernia repairs, urogynaecology procedures, sacrocolpopexy, hepatobiliary bile duct exploration, hemi-hepatectomy and distal pancreatectomy and gynaecology procedures like advanced endometriosis and onco-gynae radical resections.
(c) The benefit to the patients of robotic surgery is that it is less invasive than traditional techniques and therefore has a lesser impact on the body and physiology as the surgery is much more precise than the traditional techniques. This has resulted in significantly less ICU admissions, less use of blood transfusions (which were previously standard in some of the procedures but is almost unheard of with robotics) and an earlier discharge from hospital and return to normal daily activity. Before robotics a patient could expect to take 6 weeks or longer to return to their normal lives, but this is significantly reduced with the minimally invasive nature of robotics, allowing a better quality of life.
