“We are in the process of launching the robot-assisted pediatric liver surgery program at Semmelweis University, and the first two procedures performed on children with da Vinci robotic technology in January are expected to be followed by another soon,” said Dr. Oszkár Hahn, Deputy Director of the Department of Surgery, Transplantation and Gastroenterology (STéG).
The 14-year-old Zita, who underwent the first robot-assisted surgery on a child in Hungary at the end of January, is doing well and, together with her mother, told her story to the website of the Tűzoltó Street Department of Semmelweis University’s Pediatric Center. “It was terrifying at first when they showed me the robot with the big arms. But what seems terrifying at first might just be what sees you through something. I thought about the fact that this robot had been put together by the best experts and that the knowledge of many, many doctors was in it. That made it less scary,” said the 14-year-old Zita, recalling her feelings about the robot. Zita was treated for six months at the Pediatric Center, where her attending physician was Dr. Miklós Garami, a chief pediatric oncologist. Although the nine weeks of chemotherapy took its toll on her, the treatment more than halved the tumor’s size. The liver tumor was removed using the da Vinci Surgical System: The intervention was performed at the Department of Surgery, Transplantation and Gastroenterology by Dr. Oszkár Hahn, STéG’s liver surgery profile leader, assisted by Dr. Attila Szijártó, Director of STéG; surgeons Dr. Damján Pekli and Dr. Zoltán Deák-Ilkó; a trained anesthesiologist; and qualified operating room assistants.
Tűzoltó Street Department, Pediatric Center, Semmelweis University
Translation: Dr. Balázs Csizmadia
Image credit: Tűzoltó Street Department, Pediatric Center, Semmelweis University; Bálint Barta – Semmelweis University
