Professor Matin Sheriff, Consultant Urological Surgeon at Medway NHS Foundation Trust explains: “We are absolutely delighted to welcome da Vinci to the team; thanks to this incredible technology we are able to perform operations in a way not possible with human hands. This means we can use very small incisions rather than open surgery.
“This is fantastic for our patients because it means they experience less pain, go home sooner and have less chance of experiencing a complication, such as a postoperative infection.”
Da Vinci has been in use at the Trust since July and more than 40 patients have already had prostate surgery using this state-of-the-art technology.
One such patient is Barry Tulett, (69) from Chatham who underwent a prostatectomy five weeks ago. Mr Tulett said: “We were in complete shock when I found out I had prostate cancer but the care I’ve had at Medway has been brilliant.
“Professor Sheriff explained my options and I was happy to go ahead with the operation using the robot, or ‘Robbie’ as I call it now. I’ve been amazed at the speed of my recovery. When I woke up after the operation I didn’t even know I’d had it. I was able to leave hospital the very next day and my scars are very small. It has been about as good an experience as it could be, considering I was having major surgery for cancer.
“One thing I will say is, please ask your GP for a PSA test. It’s just a simple blood test that could save your life”.
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