Netcare Waterfall performs robotic-assisted surgery

Venter, a father of three and an attorney, underwent surgery to remove his bladder, prostate gland and pelvic lymph nodes; a procedure to treat a highly aggressive cancer. He said, “You think cancer is something other people get, so when I was diagnosed with bladder cancer a month ago, it certainly came as a great shock. You realize life is precious.”

He explained that he found out about the robotic surgery after watching a television news insert and said he hoped it might be a viable treatment option in his case, too. Urologist Dr Johan Venter, who carried out the procedure, practices at Netcare Pretoria East Hospital and is an accredited Da Vinci robotic surgeon. The doctor said the patient’s case was an extremely complex one, “He not only had an advanced high grade cancer of the bladder, but also a large abdominal aortic aneurysm, and a dangerous, abnormal dilated major blood vessel in the abdomen supplying the organs and lower extremities,” said Dr Venter.

After consulting with the patient’s vascular surgeon, the surgeons decided to treat the cancer first. The patient recovered rapidly, and once doctors are sure he is strong enough, his aneurysm will be operated on at Netcare in Pretoria in a few weeks’ time.

Dr Venter added, “It is not yet clear whether he will require further treatment for cancer in future, but we are hopeful to have removed it all. Tests after the procedure showed that the cancer was localised and had not spread past the bladder.” Dr Venter explained that the advantages of using the robotic-assisted surgical system are that the procedure is done through tiny punctures in the skin and so does not involve large surgical incisions. The operation is less traumatic to the patient, there is less blood loss, and it poses less risk of complications than traditional open surgery.

According to Jacques du Plessis, managing director of the Netcare hospital division, this is the first time this type of procedure has been completed in the Netcare Da Vinci robotic programme, which has been running since mid-2014. Du Plessis explained, “Urologists participating in the Netcare Da Vinci robotic programme initially focused on performing prostatectomies, an intricate procedure undertaken to remove the prostate gland to treat localised cancer. About 260 of these operations have already been performed at Netcare Waterfall City and Netcare Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital in Cape Town, where Da Vinci equipment has been installed.”

He stated that it was the hospital’s intention to use such versatile state-of-the-art technology, which enables surgeons to perform surgery much more accurately, for other applications in urology and gynaecology.

Watch the procedure here: 

Details: Netcare Waterfall City Hospital, Midrand, Tel 011 304 6600.