Best Life: New adrenal robotic surgery results in quicker recovery

HOUSTON, Texas (Ivanhoe Newswire) – A groundbreaking single-incision adrenal surgery is brand new and it’s proving to be much faster, resulting in shorter hospital stays and quicker recovery. Houston Methodist is the first in the country to offer it.

Adrenal problems, from cancer or hormone overproduction, are often discovered while treating something else.

Helmi Khadra, MD, FACS, Endocrine & Oncology Surgeon at Houston Methodist Hospital says, “They go into the ER, and they’re having abdominal pain, or they even, you know, fell and broke a bone, and just by CT scan, they find that they have an adrenal mass.”

Houston Methodist is the first to perform a single port robotic retro periteneoscopic adrenalectomy. it requires only one incision and the DaVinci robot.

“The advantage of this robot is making only one incision and all of your instruments go in through that one little incision, and using the, you know, high-definition camera of the robot,” Dr. Khadra explains.

This single entry point limits infections, shortens hospital stays to one day, and patients to experience less pain.

Dr. Khadra further explains, “They’re on their tummy, essentially, and you go in, through the back, to get to the space, called the retro-peritoneum.”

In addition to cancer, hormone overproduction is a trigger.

“The adrenal gland usually produces hormones that work for adrenaline, blood pressure hormones, some of the sex hormones, and the stress hormone,” said Dr. Khadra.

Without surgery, issues elevate blood pressure and aggravate diabetes. There are two glands, so one can be safely removed. In some cases of adrenal cancer, which is aggressive, it is still done with an open procedure, to ensure it’s all removed.

Contributors to this news report include: Donna Parker, Producer; Bruce Maniscalco, Videographer; Roque Correa, Editor.

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