Taipei City Hospital

      Mr. Li, 45 years old, suffered from gastric ulcer and went to see a gastrointestinal physician half a year ago. The gastroscopy and abdominal ultrasound examination suggested a 4cm-long renal tumor, and the computed tomography (CT) confirmed suspected cancer. Mr. Li accepted Da Vinci robotic surgery for partial nephrectomy, which lasted for 3 hours and required no blood transfusion. He was up and about again the second day, and no evidence of recurrence was found half a year after the surgery.

      Hwang Jiann-Loung, attending doctor of the Urology Department in Taipei City Hospital Ren’ai Branch, points out that the Da Vinci Surgery System helps surgeons perform operations with a much better view and more flexible interface. Its relative safety enables more renal functions to be retained. The robotic partial nephrectomy (RPN) requires 220 minutes, the time for clipping blood vessels (renal ischemia time) is 15 minutes and the renal function (GFR change) decreases by 14%. It shows that RPN can reduce renal ischemia time and protect renal function from damage as much as possible.

      Many patients who are diagnosed with tumors refuse to accept the fact. They often say, “I don’t have any discomfort or abnormal symptoms”, while the cancer is actually quietly damaging their health. Dr. Hwang warns that if you want to receive treatment only when you began to feel uncomfortable, it may often be too late. With current advancement in preventive medicine, we can find and treat diseases early, and the prognosis is usually very good.