HCM CITY – Doctors at HCM City’s Bình Dân Hospital have used a robot for the first time in the country for lung cancer surgery, removing suspicious nodules through a small incision instead of a large one and without using mechanical rib spreaders, unlike in the past.

According to Dr Trần Công Quyền of the hospital the minimally invasive surgical technique helps patients recover faster and have significantly less post-operative discomfort than traditional open lung cancer surgery.

With manoeuverable wrists rotating through 540 degrees and a 3-D camera providing a view of healthy and suspicious tissues, the doctors view lung structures and more precisely perform the surgery.

The hospital said in a press release that doctors performed the surgery on a 56-year-old patient from Vĩnh Long Province.

He said he had smoked nearly 40 cigarettes a day for more than 30 years, and also suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure.

He was brought to the hospital for treatment and tests showed two-centimetre nodules in his right lung.

Doctors said 40 per cent of the nodules were cancerous and had to be removed as soon as possible since they could prove fatal.

The surgery was done under the supervision of a Singaporean surgeon.

In Việt Nam, the leading cause of death of men is lung cancer.

Among women, it is the third most common cancer.

According to Hà Nội’s Bạch Mai Hospital, nearly 22,000 new cases of lung cancer are recorded in the country every year while 19,500 die of the cancer each year.

According to Quyền, smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer, with second-hand smokers also being at high risk.

But most cases are not detected early. – VNS