Pioneering Minimally Invasive Robotic Assisted Thoracic Procedure For Lung Cancer Demonstrated Live At Future Surgery 2022

The earlier lung cancer is identified and treated, the better the chance of successful cure. With more lung cancer screening today, doctors are increasingly discovering lung cancers when they are small. However, this also makes accurate intraoperative localisation of these lesions challenging.

Robotic Assisted-bronchoscopy (RAB) is an innovative technology that is becoming increasingly popular, enabling accurate biopsy, visualisation and marking of smaller peripheral lung nodules. Paired with advanced 3D reconstruction of imaging, it creates a virtual reality world of the patient’s lungs through which surgeons navigate an ultra-thin and very flexible tube with a camera to the target, making it possible to quickly and safely reach previously hard-to-reach nodules.

It also makes segmentectomies – a procedure where a small piece of the lung containing the cancer is removed whilst preserving the neighboring healthy lung – easier and safer to perform. As well as allowing more precise surgery and improving accuracy and ergonomics, robot-assisted thoracoscopic segmentectomy is also associated with shorter hospital stays and better cost-effectiveness.

Mr Kelvin Lau from Barts Health NHS Trust, said: “The challenges for the surgeon for small lung cancer and lung-sparing segmentectomy, is to reach it to make a diagnosis, and to make sure the small bit of lung we removed contained the nodule with a good margin to prevent it recurring. Currently, some places remove the whole lobe in order to be sure, but that removes a lot of healthy lung which does not grow back. Other places perform segmentectomy with the hope the tumour which they can't see or feel, is contained within the specimen with a good margin, but with the risk of it not being there or clear of the margin.”

Mr Sasha Stamenkovic, Director of Robotic Surgery, added: “The procedure we do –bronchoscopy marking and image-guided segmentectomy – allows us to precisely remove a small part of the lung but guaranteeing we captured the tumour with a satisfactory margin. We’re excited to showcase this multimodal technique and the remarkable benefits robotic surgery can contribute to patient care at Future Surgery.”

Visitors to this year’s surgery will be able to watch a demonstration of this ground-procedure live on the Association for British HealthTech Industries’ (ABHI) Surgical Simulation Theatre.

The session will be led by leading surgeons Mr Kelvin Lau, a consultant and lead thoracic surgeon at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London and a pioneer in navigation bronchoscopy and hybrid thoracic surgery, and Mr Sasha Stamenkovic, a recognised leader who pioneered robotic thoracic surgery in the UK and Ireland in 2013. He came to Barts in 2017 as Consultant Thoracic Surgeon and Robotic Surgery.

Barts Health NHS Trust is the largest NHS trust in the UK, and the oldest. The Barts Thorax Centre is recognised as a world-leading and innovative thoracic surgery centre and was the first to incorporate navigation bronchoscopy into thoracic surgical practice in the UK. In a first for the UK, St Bartholomew’s has the only 5-day a week robot programme dedicated to thoracic (chest and lungs) surgery.

Paul Benton, Managing Director, International, at the ABHI added: “In the UK, robotic surgery is playing a significant role in reducing patient waits for surgery. We are excited to be hosting this ground-breaking demonstration which will offer a fascinating insight into how robotic surgery can help surgical teams to deliver improved outcomes and achieve excellence.”

Future Surgery 2022 takes place 15th and 16th November 2022 at ExCel, London. Delivered in partnership with The Royal College of Surgeons of England, it will be the biggest gathering of surgical and operating theatre teams with over 100 exhibitors and 100+ speakers set to attend this year.

Throughout the show, ABHI’s Surgical Simulation Theatre will be replicating a fully working operating theatre.

Barts Health NHS Trust session will take place on the ABHI Simulation Stand on day 2 of Future Surgery (16th November) at 14:00 to 15:00.