[ExI] Da Vinci robot surgeon successfully removes inoperable tumor

[BillK]

Doctors couldn't operate on my tumour, but this robot did — and it may
have saved my life
Glenn Deir · CBC News · Aug 27, 2023

<https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/first-person-robot-surgeon-1.6946399>

Quotes:
Given removing the cancer involved delicate cutting of the tonsil,
tongue and throat, Dr. Lee offered to refer me to a surgeon in Halifax
who used a robot named da Vinci. There is no da Vinci in Newfoundland
and Labrador. It's an expensive piece of equipment. Halifax's cost
just over $8 million.

Da Vinci's "fingers" can go where the human hand cannot. The surgery
is less invasive, the complications fewer, the recovery quicker. But
da Vinci is not R2-D2. It does not act autonomously. It does what its
master directs, and in my case its master was Dr. Martin Corsten.

When I asked Dr. Corsten what the surgery would have looked like
without da Vinci he replied, "In the good old days, we would have cut
your jaw in two." That's how they got their access. The image of my
jaw being split like a turkey wishbone was deeply unsettling.
Radiation treatment has made even a simple tooth extraction
impossible. The jaw won't heal properly. Without da Vinci, I had no
surgical option.
I have thanked all my doctors profusely. But I reserve a special
thank-you for da Vinci.
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Amazing technology!

BillK