Published on January 31, 2005

The treatment of heart disease is entering a new era: Bangkok Heart Hospital has imported advanced new technologies to provide patients with better and more accurate medical attention.

The hospital has invested more than Bt300 million to acquire the latest technology for treating heart disease, from diagnosis through to surgery.

Hospital deputy director Dr Kitipan Visudharom said the highlight of the new technology was the adoption of a robotic system to assist surgeons during heart surgery.

With the new system, the surgeon performs all surgical procedures using a pair of robotic arms, resulting in greater precision and improved chances of success.

Kitipan said using the robot would enable surgeons to carry out more precise work while reducing discomfort for patients.

“With robots, surgeons can do a much better job as they can perform procedures with greater accuracy. Patients will benefit as they will feel less discomfort as the procedure will require an incision just one centimetre long, compared to 4cm-6cm incision required in the standard procedure,” he added.

The hospital acquired the robot-assisted surgery system – called Da Vinci – late last year and has so far used it on four occasions.

During surgery, the operating surgeon sits at a console guiding the robot arms. Two arms are used, like the surgeon’s hands, while another arm is equipped with a digital camera to allow the surgeon to monitor the overall status of the operation as if he were beside the patient.

“Even though the robot performs the actual procedure, the surgeon is still the one making the decisions and controlling what the robot does,” Kitipan said.

Currently, the hospital has two surgeons qualified to operate the robotic system. It plans to train eight surgeons by the middle of the year.

“We hope that after all our surgeons are trained and skilled in using the robot, we will eventually use Da Vinci for all heart surgery. This goal may take around two years to achieve,” Kitipan said.

The hospital has also imported the latest, multislice computed tomography (CT) scanner to assist in the diagnosis of heart disease.

The technology offers clearer, more detailed X-ray images in less time than conventional CT scans by capturing a greater number of images per second.

Kitipan said the new technology would enable doctors to make more accurate diagnoses of heart conditions.

Pongpen Sutharoj

The Nation

pongpen@nationgroup.com

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