KARACHI: One of the pioneers in modern robotic urological surgery in the United Kingdom and internationally-acclaimed surgeon is going to assist Pakistan in adopting futuristic methods in medicine.

“Pakistan has great potential for multi-discipline robotic surgery systems and we all believe such surgical methods would be a common sight in years to come,” said 48-year-old Dr Prokar Dasgupta, medical graduate from the University of Calcutta who was born in Lucknow and went to the UK for advanced studies and to take part in research programmes that later benefited the entire world.

Speaking to Dawn after delivering a guest-lecture at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) at its auditorium, he said the world was using robotics in many disciplines, including prostatectomy, removal of cancerous uterus; ear, nose and throat infections, thyroid and plastic surgeries.

He said that robotic surgery was machine controlled, but there was a surgeon as well sitting at a giant state-of-the-art console overseeing it.

He spoke about the da Vinci Surgical System, which he said was a sophisticated robotic platform designed to expand the surgeon’s capabilities and offer a modern minimal invasive option for a major surgery.

With the da Vinci Surgical System, small incisions are made to insert miniaturised wristed instruments and a high-definition 3D camera.

“The surgeon sitting at the console views a magnified high-resolution 3D image of the surgical site inside a patient’s body,” he said.

The latest robotic and computer technologies scale down, filter and seamlessly translate the surgeon’s hand movements into precise micro-movements with the da Vinci instruments.

“You call it a robot, but it cannot move on its own, it is the surgeon who fully controls it,” he added.

“Although the time required for a surgery is not more different for a robot than a surgeon who undertakes it without its assistance, the advanced method guarantees much lesser possibility of infection, negligible bleeding, less pain and quicker recovery of a patient,” he said.

“By this method, a patient can recover quickly, for instance if one recovers from a normal surgery in six months, this method helps a patient to convalesce in one month,” said Dr Dasgupta, adding that that could be beneficial for an overall economic activity let alone the patient’s own benefit.

He said it was not just equipment required to enable a country to join the rest of the world regularly using that method, but efficiently trained surgeons and other people around him were also needed.

He added that his country of birth, neighbouring India, had attained considerable advancement in this field.

“India was not that advanced just a few years ago, but now it has got a large number of surgery robots with the help of Vattikuti Urology Institute.”

He said that he had offered his all-out help to the SIUT to train its doctors and staff in operating robots.

He equated the SIUT with Guy’s Hospital in London, which he said Thomas Guy had founded 300 years ago when he saw medical facilities were not available to the poor and offered free-of-cost medical service to the public.

“Now we see the same spirit behind the establishment of the SIUT,” he added.

Prof Adib-ul-Hasan Rizvi, director of SIUT, said that Dr Prokar Dasgupta would train Pakistani doctors and paramedic staff in robotic urological surgery.

At present two such surgical systems were available each in the Qatar Hospital and the Civil Hospital Karachi, Prof Rizvi added.

Dr Prokar Dasgupta offered Pakistani researchers, from the SIUT in particular, to submit a paper of international calibre for the British Journal of Urology and many other organisations worldwide, of which he was the editor-in-chief.

Speakers at the reception held for Dr Dasgupta also called to adopting futuristic method of surgery called “minimal invasive surgery” for urological disorders as it ensured less pain, reduced hospitalisation and minimal scarring.

Another visiting professor Dr Shamim Khan of the Guy’s and St Thomas’ London hospital, briefed the symposium participants about recent advances in surgical procedures for enlarged prostate while Professor Matin Sheriff, also from the same hospital, updated the audience with his experiences on laparoscopic surgery in urology.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2014