A hospital in Spain has successfully completed the first robotic lung transplant using a new access route that does not require cutting through bone. Albert Jauregui, who heads the Lung Transplant Service at Vall d’Hebron Hospital in Barcelona, shared details about the groundbreaking procedure during a press conference on April 17, 2023.
The surgery involved using a robot called ‘Da Vinci’ with four arms to remove a damaged lung through a small incision of only eight centimeters below the sternum and above the diaphragm. The new lung was deflated to fit the tight incision, while the robot arms and 3D cameras were adjusted through slim cuts to the side of the rib cage.
According to Jauregui, this new technique was less aggressive and more patient-friendly, resulting in less pain and faster healing time.
Traditionally, lung transplants require a 30-centimeter incision in the chest, which involves breaking the ribs to reach the organs. But with the new technique, doctors at Vall d’Hebron Hospital were able to replace the damaged lung through a small incision below the sternum without breaking any ribs, limiting the incision to soft tissues.
While other hospitals have used smaller incisions for lung transplants, this was the first time doctors have limited the incision to soft tissues.
The new technique was used to help Xavier, a 65-year-old man suffering from pulmonary fibrosis. Xavier reported having zero pain and feeling much better after the procedure. Jauregui hopes this technique will become more widely used in hospitals as it is less painful and improves patients’ life quality during the post-surgery period.
The Vall d’Hebron Hospital in Barcelona has become the first in the world to perform a robotic lung transplant using this technique, which is expected to become more common as more centers adopt it.
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