ONE of Colchester’s best consultant surgeons has appeared in a BBC documentary showing the impact of a multi-million pound surgical robot.
The latest episode of BBC 2 series Your Body Uncovered with Kate Garraway featured associate medical director and consultant surgeon Subash Vasudevan together with patient Janet Wakelin, 70.
The episode followed the journey of the Harwich pensioner who was able to see inside her own body using augmented reality.
Janet was looking forward to some sailing adventures with her husband when she noticed strong pain in her back and blood in her stool.
After undergoing numerous tests, Janet was then diagnosed with a tumour in her bowel.
The episode of Your Body Uncovered also featured the £2.5million Davinci Xi surgical robot, which carries out minimally-invasive colon, rectal and gynaecological cancer operations, as well as procedures for endometriosis.
The innovative technology was introduced 12 months ago by East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust which runs Colchester, Clacton and Harwich hospitals.
“The robot gives you so much more control when you are operating and magnifies areas so that you can be even more precise,” said Mr Vasudevan.
“It is also incredibly stable, which makes complex surgery easier and means the surgeon is less tired after a long operation.”
During the episode, Janet was also given a detailed consultation by Mr Vasudevan to help her understand the location and size of her cancer.
Using his expertise, the surgeon also explained why removing not only the tumour, but also part of the bowel was deemed the best course of action for Janet.
Colchester’s MP Will Quince has also praised Mr Vasudevan’s groundbreaking work.
He said: “Great to see the brilliant work of NHS professionals here in Colchester getting national coverage.”
So far, there have been more than 200 patients who have benefited from being operated on by robotic technology.
To use the robot, the surgeon sits in the same room as the patient and will look through an eye piece on a console while controlling the machine’s four arms from the console.
This allows them to move tissue or make cuts remotely with incredible accuracy.
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