Nhan Dan 115 hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam has successfully carried out the surgery on February 15 by Doctor Si and his colleagues, with the support of the vice president of Aurora Health Care (USA).
The patient was a 67 year old woman hospitalized with a headache, dysarthria and weakness in her right limbs. An MRI scan revealed a small tumor in the left cerebral hemisphere about 2 cm wide close to the cortex which affected her speech and mobility. Because of the size and placement of the tumor, normal surgery could have resulted in complications caused by damage to the nervous system.
Therefore, Doctor Si, the head of the neurology department and his colleagues decided to use the Modus V Synaptive robot system. This system was brought over from the US in 2018. The Modus V immediately captures part of the patient’s body using MRI, after which it instructs surgeons during the operation.
After 1.5 hrs of surgery, the tumor was successfully removed, signaling the first robot-assisted brain surgery in Asia. If the surgery would have been performed with microsurgery glasses without the robot, the procedure would have lasted around four hours.
Robotically assisted brain surgery is commonly used in countries such as the US, Australia and Canada. The technology allows doctors to perform difficult procedures with more precision, control and flexibility than traditional techniques. More robotically assisted brain surgeries are expected to occur in the hospital and other infirmaries in Vietnam. The technique is likely to be approved by health insurance providers to improve patient treatment quality.
(Source: Vietnam News)
