Robotic Hepatobiliary Surgery Held by Prof. Dr. Sucandy and Dr. Dhondt in Ghent, Belgium
In the recent five years, demand for robotic liver surgery education is rapidly increasing as this technique becomes the preferred method for complex liver surgery. In cases of liver tumor within close proximity to major vessels, large tumors more than 5cm, bile duct cancer type needing removal of lymph nodes around the liver or in patients with significant chemotherapy prior to resection, laparoscopic liver resection is found to have higher rate of ‘unplanned/crash’ conversion when compared to robotic liver resection. The versatility of the robotic system provides enhanced ambidextrous dexterity, fine suturing for rapid bleeding control, and stable visualization, which all ultimately lead to more precise and accurate surgery.
Due to lack of formal training center in robotic liver surgery within hepatobiliary speciality, Dr Sucandy hosted the first independent robotic liver surgery course at Nicholson Center in Orlando three years ago. The course was very well attended with participants coming from as far as Turkey, Germany, Qatar, and Middle-Eastern countries. The majority of the attendees were experienced liver surgeons and experts in liver transplantation with moderate laparoscopic background. The course was held for two days, where the first day was spent for didactic teaching and re-live video interactions. All aspects of robotic liver surgery were discussed in detail, including tips and tricks in difficult robotic hepatectomy. The second day was spent for cadaver lab where robotic liver resection was performed in the cadavers by the attendees with guidance of expert faculties. Five faculties were recruited from Houston Methodists, University of Pittsburgh, AZ Groeninge in Belgium, University of Washington in Seattle, and Dr. Sucandy himself.
Since this first course, Dr Sucandy was involved in other robotic liver surgery course in MITIE , a state of the art training lab in Houston during the International Liver Transplant Society (ILTS) and surgeon-led type of courses in Intuitive Surgical Training Lab in Atlanta. Due to the need for robotic liver surgery training in Europe, Dr Sucandy and his colleague Dr Dhondt then decided to run a robotic liver surgery course as well in Ghent, Belgium with the intention to give an opportunity to European surgeons to learn robotic liver surgery. After careful considerations, ORSI academy was chosen to be the training site due to their strong track records of hosting multiple other surgical courses in the past decade, including both laparoscopic and robotic types. Six months of preparation was needed to launch this ORSI robotic liver course successfully.
The Robotic liver surgery course in ORSI adopted the original robotic training curriculum and set-up/model originally designed by Dr Sucandy for Nicholson Center in Florida. This course was attended by more than 30 surgeons from 18 countries, endorsed by the European-African Hepatopancreatobiliary Association (EAHPBA) and International Laparoscopic Liver Society (ILLS). The teaching faculties were recruited from Polyambulanza Hospital in Brescia (Italy), University of Modena (Italy), AZ Groeninge (Belgium), Amsterdam Medical Center in Netherland, and AdventHealth Tampa Florida (Dr Sucandy). Very positive feedbacks were gathered from all participants and further annual robotic liver surgery courses are also requested. A faculty dinner together with all the attendees was held between day #1 and #2 in a traditional Belgian restaurant in Ghent. As an expert and pioneer in robotic surgery, Dr Sucandy continues to expand robotic liver surgery education to other surgeons worldwide.
