BEFORE READING

 Have you ever had major surgery?

 Are you up-to-date with technology in medicine?
 In your opinion, what’s the most interesting invention or technology in medicine at the moment?

Doctors in Spain carry out world’s first full lung transplant using a robot
The four-armed Da Vinci robot enabled surgeons to make a smaller incision, meaning less pain and
faster healing for the patient.
In Madrid, doctors have carried out the world’s first full lung transplant using a robot, enabling surgeons
to make a less invasive cut in the patient’s body and reduce the risk of pain.
Using the four-armed Da Vinci robot, surgeons in Spain made a small incision of eight centimetres into
the body of a 65-year-old man and removed a diseased lung from his body before inserting a healthy
donated one. They were able to avoid using traditional surgery which involves making a much larger
incision of about 30cm in a patient’s ribs and thorax.
The operation was carried out at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona in February but
details were made public only just recently. The patient was suffering from pulmonary fibrosis. He thanked
the donor and the doctors who carried out the pioneering operation. “Since I came round from the
anaesthetic the pain has been zero,” he told a press conference. The patient appealed to Spain’s politicians
to invest more in public health, which has faced cuts in recent years. “Politicians: invest in public health and
in this machine so that they can do (operations like this) all over Spain,” he said.
 Dr Albert Jauregui, the head of lung transplants and pulmonary surgery team, said that the new robotic
technique enabled surgeons to avoid making a large incision, which can take time to heal. “For several
years, our team has been thinking about introducing robotic surgery into the lung transplantation. But we
have had the same problem of how to take out the diseased lung and how to put the new lung into the
chest,” he told reporters. “But there is a new approach. We used the robotic platform and the patient went
home painless. In the future, surgeons will use this approach.
Dr Jauregui said patients recovering from lung transplant often suffered from intensive pain. “Previously,
we had to enter between the ribs which can be very painful. Now we are abandoning the traditional surgery
and using less invasive techniques. We have introduced the new lung with this small incision. It has been
very important; it is as if we were inside the patient.” He said the technique could revolutionise the
transplant process in UK hospitals and elsewhere.
Describing how the robot works, he said: “One arm is my eyes. Another arm is my left hand, another is
my right hand. A fourth is an extra arm if I need it. Then we put the healthy lung inside the patient.”
Judit Sacanell, of the intensive medicine team at the hospital, said with robot transplants she hoped that
it would reduce the number of complications with this type of surgery.

AFTER READING
1) Mark the sentences T or F:
a. Using Da Vinci helps patients recover faster.
b. The first transplant done with Da Vinci was a kidney transplant.
c. The doctors used Da Vinci to make a 30cm incision in the patient.
d. The transplant was in February.
e. The patient said that politicians should invest more money on technology like this.
f. After a traditional lung transplant, a patient doesn’t suffer a lot of pain.
g. One of Da Vinci’s arms is just an extra.
h. Robot transplants could reduce the number of complications in surgeries.

2) Watch the video and choose the correct options:

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy5Hh_MTVRM&ab_channel=TheMedicalFuturist

a. Augmented reality causes / doesn’t cause radiation exposure.

b. Virtual reality can be used to treat stress, anxiety, and drug addictions / muscle pain.
c. Robotics can be used to help paralysed / old people walk again.
d. Artificial Intelligence (AI) isn’t / is very helpful in organising data.
e. The FDA still doesn’t approve / has recently approved 3D printing as a medical resource.
f. Tissue engineering specialises in printing tissues used in organ regeneration / organ transplantation.
g. Portable diagnostic tools are patient-friendly and convenient / expensive and impractical.
h. Digital tattoos are flexible and can measure vital signs / mobility.
i. Nutrigenomics focuses on diets to lose weight / particular markers for particular people.
j. Chatbots are the future to alleviate the burden for the patients / doctors and emergency lines.
3) Answer:
a. Have you heard of this piece of news before?
b. What are the advantages of using a machine like this?
c. Have you ever heard of these 10 new technologies?
d. Do you think this is the future of medicine?
e. Would you dare to undergo surgery with Da Vinci?