A cut above

Pioneering lung transplant operation carried out by robot

By Alex Trelinski

A BARCELONA hospital has carried out a pioneering lung transplant operation with a robot involving a less invasive procedure for the patient.

The four-pronged robot called Da Vinci was used at the Vall d’Hebron hospital in a surgery that no longer required opening up the chest and separating ribs.

Da Vinci cut through just a small area of the patient’s skin, fat and muscle to re-

On Strike

THE Andalucian Medical Union has called for seven days worth of strikes until the end of May. Strikes by primary care doctors and pediatricians are proposed to take place between 8am and 8pm every Wednesday.

In Malaga alone, 1500 medical professionals are expected to take action move the damaged lung and inserted a new one through an eight-centimetre incision in the lower part of the sternum, just above the diaphragm.

Unions have called the strikes because they claim the regional health authority has broken an agreement to limit the number of patients seen to 35 a day and, in the case of child patients, to 25. Currently the average doctor sees 60 patients daily.

Besides being safer than previous techniques, which needed a 30-centimetre cut, the patient's post-op treatment involves less pain as the smaller wound closes far more easily.

Vall d’Hebron’s Lung Transplant head, Albert Jauregui, said: “We believe it is a technique that will improve patients’ life quality, the post-surgery period and reduce pain. We hope this technique will eventually spread