Surgeons use robot to remove two tumours in same operation

Cancer surgeons have achieved a world-first by using a robot to remove tumours from a patient’s neck and lung in the same operation.

The six-hour procedure at Guy’s hospital, revealed today by the Evening Standard, ensured the patient, a father of four, was able to start radiotherapy and chemotherapy much more quickly, improving his chances of being cured.

Conventional surgery would have involved splitting his jaw and rib cage, a long stay in intensive care, relying on breathing and feeding tubes and weeks of recovery. The chemotherapy could have been delayed by months.

The patient, a 49-year-old London psychiatrist called Harvey, was found to have throat cancer after noticing a lump in his neck. A secondary tumour in his right lung was also discovered.

Asit Arora, robotic head and neck surgical lead, and Jean-Pierre Jeannon, clinical director for surgical oncology, first removed the throat tumour.

The Da Vinci Xi robot was repositioned and given an extra “arm” and consultant thoracic surgeon Andrea Bille removed two-thirds of Harvey’s right lung while he was still under anaesthetic.

Harvey, a former smoker who married his partner of more than 20 years Lorraine the day before the operation last August, said: “It was devastating to be told I had cancer.

"To be my age and have two cancers, particularly in the lung as well, is a spot of bad luck to say the least.

“In my professional life I’ve had a longstanding interest in research.

"Even if this does take me down, [the fact that] the treatment has produced a world first and hopefully informed research felt very fitting. It’s given us hope where we had none.”

Guy’s and St Thomas NHS Trust carries out the most robotic operations in the UK — about 800 a year.