Multivisceral robotic resection: a glimpse into the future of minimally invasive abdominal surgery

Abstract

A 62-year-old man was referred to the Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary (HPB) surgeons with left upper quadrant discomfort. The initial investigations and CT scans revealed a tumour in the pancreatic tail with liver metastases, confirmed on MRI. It was initially thought to be an adenocarcinoma; however, further investigations found that it was a grade 1 neuroendocrine tumour with Ki 67 at 1% and it was agreed that he would undergo a total robotic surgery involving resection of the locally advanced tumour of the tail of pancreas, with the involvement of the stomach, and splenic flexure of the colon with liver metastases. The resulting procedure was a total robotic distal pancreatectomy, splenectomy, sleeve resection of stomach, cholecystectomy, atypical resection of two liver lesions and microwave ablation of multiple liver lesions. Four days post-operatively, he was discharged from hospital and commenced adjuvant chemotherapy. He currently enjoys a good quality of life.