Caroline Smith thought the work by the robot was ‘fantastic’ with minimal scarring

A WOMAN diagnosed with stage three cancer has become the first colorectal patient to be operated-on by a robot as part of a new programme at the Royal Free Hospital.

Caroline Smith, who lives in Swiss Cottage, was diagnosed with bowel cancer after she found she couldn’t make it up the steps to home without getting out of breath.

The 59-year-old was rushed in for surgery the following week and was amazed to hear it would be undertaken by a robot, instead of manually.

The Da Vinci Xi surgical robot can make smaller incisions in the abdomen and it can translate a surgeon’s hand movements to work on tiny instruments in the patients body. The robot surgeons – which cost around £1.5 million – have been used to treat kidney cancer patients at the hospital since 2014. But consultants now say it is considered a safe and effective way of treating tumours in the colon, rectum and anus.

Don’t worry – there’s a team of humans on the unit too!

Ms Smith said: “My surgeon explained I would be having the surgery done with the use of a surgical robot. I’d never met anyone who had had this but I was excited because I’d seen it done on TV programmes and on the news.

“I thought it was fantastic and after the operation I was delighted to have minimal scarring. I ended up being discharged from hospital three days later armed with nothing stronger than over the counter medication and although I was in mild discomfort I wasn’t in any pain. People who visited me couldn’t believe I’d had major surgery.”

Ms Smith had suffered from claustrophobia her whole life and would always take the steps to reach her home on the sixth floor.

She knew something must be very wrong when in January she found she had to sit down to catch her breath after climbing just one floor.

Ms Smith said: “I’d had no other symptoms at all and then suddenly this. I knew I was very fit and this couldn’t be put down to the menopause or getting older so I was straight on the phone to the GP.”

Robot surgery leads to patients spending less time recovering on the wards and there is less of a need for blood transfusions.

The machine also provides 3D visuals with a magnified view inside the patient’s body.

Consultant Ibnauf Suliman said: “All the patients we have treated so far were discharged with no surgical complications and within five days of their operation.”

He said they were looking to expand the service to include some liver patients.

The Royal Free London saw the largest number of patients referred on a two-week suspected cancer pathway in London last year. Ms Smith has undergone chemotherapy and has returned to her secretarial work for an accountancy firm.