Abu Dhabi: The UAE’s first robotic removal of a patient’s uterus has recently been performed at the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, with the patient able to walk just hours after the surgery.
In a statement sent on Tuesday, the hospital said that the procedure was performed on an Emirati patient who had been suffering from severe fibroids and endometriosis. Both fibroids — non-cancerous growths in or around the uterus — and endometriosis, in which tissues that is normally inside the uterus grows outside it, can be very painful.
“Both fibroids and endometriosis are common in the UAE, and I see a lot of women suffering from them in my practice. Being able to offer women with the most severe cases robotic surgery means they have less pain, their overall recovery time is significantly reduced, and they can get back to living their lives sooner,” says Dr M. Jean Uy-Kroh, staff physician at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi’s Surgical Subspecialities Institute.
While medications can be used to control the pain, surgery is the only option to relieve the pain and cure the conditions in severe cases.
The statement added that robotic procedures allow surgeons to perform complex operations with greater precision than traditional methods. The surgeon makes small incisions only for the insertion of the surgical tools, and then controls them from a console that provides a live, 3D view of the surgical site. Because of its minimally invasive nature, these procedures also mean significantly less pain for the patient.
Recovery times from robotic surgeries are also shorter than traditional procedures, dropping to just four weeks compared to an average of six to eight weeks in case of traditional procedures. Patients can be discharged from the hospital the same day after a robotic hysterectomy.
“Following the procedure, the patient was up walking, eating, and doing her normal activities on the day of the surgery and was medically ready for discharge less than 12 hours later,” added Dr Uy-Kroh.
