First Rhode Island patient undergoes robotic Whipple surgery for cancer
A local surgeon is taking robotic surgery to the next level. A Rhode Island woman is the first recipient in the state.
“Once you hear that you’re diagnosed with cancer, trust me, all you want to do is get it out of your body," said 62-year-old Valerie Young, who was delivered a diagnosis this time last year.
Her cancer in her small intestine, which was abutting her pancreas, was advanced.
“It was actually close to some of her major blood vessels," said Dr. Subhashini Ayloo of the Lifespan Cancer Institute.
Ayloo had a solution--robotic surgery. But because of its location, months of chemotherapy was needed to shrink it.
“Oh my God did I get chemo. It worked," said Young.
Her tumor shrunk enough that Dr. Ayloo could, using a robot, perform this complex minimally invasive surgery, which involved something called a Whipple procedure -- "removing the head of her pancreas."
A lot of planning was done before and during the procedure.
“This was a long surgery," said Ayloo.
More than seven hours long.
The robotic arms replicating what the human arm and fingers can do—through tiny incisions.
“I was all for it because it’s less invasive, the healing time is a lot quicker, the scarring was like, mine was like mosquito bites," said Young.
“Whenever you can avoid making a big incision or big cut on the abdomen—number one, your recuperation is far better because you’re going to have less pain," said Ayloo.
“It is good for the patient in terms of the outcome. For example, the case that we’re discussing, she had very little blood loss from the operation," she explained.
Young's surgery was Oct. 1.
She's getting around with minimal pain, and “No sign of cancer," Young beamed.
Dr. Ayloo said she’s only one of a handful of doctors worldwide trained to do such specific and complicated surgeries via robot—all minimally invasively.