Professor Chen Rufu and his team successfully performed robotic pancreaticoduodenectomy for a patient suffering from pancreatic head cancer with the fourth generation of Da Vinci surgical robot, which marks that the Pancreas Center of Guangdong Province People’s Hospital (“the Hospital”) has entered a new era marked by 360° full coverage of the minimally invasive robotic pancreas technique after setting a new record of the fastest laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy in 1 hour and 50 minutes.

“Laparoscopic surgery can more clearly expose some deep clearance, better display blood vessels, nerves and lymphatic soft tissue, more thoroughly remove lesions and clear lymph nodes, achieve better radical surgery effect, produce less trauma than open surgery, and reduce the occurrence of postoperative complications, but demands higher on the surgeons”, said Professor Chen Rufu. He introduced that “Da Vinci surgical system is an advanced laparoscopic robotic platform, which is the most advanced minimally invasive laparoscopic system at present. Pancreatic surgery has always been the most difficult abdominal surgery due to the deep anatomical position of the pancreas, massive vascular wrapping and high risk of intraoperative bleeding. Therefore, the robot technique has obvious advantages in pancreas surgery, mainly including the following three points:

· Clear field of vision. The general laparoscopic system can enlarge the field of vision by 3 times, while the “robot” can enlarge it by 10-15 times. Meanwhile, the latter can achieve naked eye 3D HD field of vision, making the image clearer and more stable, and giving the surgeon such a feeling that he was in the abdominal cavity of patient.
· Flexible operation. It can realize the integration of hand and machine, and can accomplish delicate intraoperative operation in a light and flexible way;
· Fluorography. The embedded Firefly fluoroscopy can assess blood perfusion in blood vessels, bile ducts, organs and tissues in a real-time way, and thus help doctors make intraoperative decisions.

As one of the most advanced minimally invasive pancreas centers in China, the Pancreas Center of Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital can accomplish as high as 90% of laparoscopic surgical rate, covering all pancreatic diseases, biliary and ampullary diseases, with such surgeries as radical pancreaticoduodenectomy, distal pancreatectomy with the spleen preserved and local pancreatectomy with organ functions preserved ranking forefront internationally. As an academic leader, Professor Chen Rufu has cumulatively accomplished more than 1000 cases of laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy, and more than 50 cases of such pancreatic surgeries as laparoscopic combined vascular resection and artificial vascular reconstruction, thus accumulating extremely rich experience and techniques in the field of pancreatic surgery, and forming characteristic techniques, such as “programmed individualized laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy” and “laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy with difficult approach”. In addition, Professor Chen Rufu is able to select the most appropriate surgical method for complete resection of all kinds of complicated and difficult pancreatic tumors in different locations, stages and forms. Meanwhile, in view of the tricky problem that pancreaticoenterostomy is difficult to heal, which has troubled surgeons for a long time, Professor Chen Rufu created the “three-stitch” pancreaticoenterostomy technique that is more suitable for laparoscopic operation and can more effectively reduce postoperative complications. So far, Professor Chen Rufu has demonstrated and promoted the aforesaid surgical techniques in a total of 100 Class III Grade A hospitals nationwide. And currently, more than 90% of pancreatic surgery patients at the Pancreatic Center can be discharged from hospital upon recovery within 10 days after surgery.

The Pancreas Center of Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital concurrently serves as the president unit of South China Pancreas Alliance, chairman unit of the Committee for Minimally Invasive and Comprehensive Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer of Chinese Anti-cancer Association and Pancreatic Committee of the Minimally Invasive and Noninvasive Medicine Committee of Chinese Medical Doctor Association, vice chairman unit of Pancreatic Cancer Committee of Chinese Anti-Cancer Association and Pancreatology Committee of Chinese Medical Doctor Association, and also chairman unit of Pancreatic Cancer Committee of Guangdong Anti-cancer Association. Professor Chen Rufu has participated in the development of more than 10 national diagnosis and treatment guidelines and expert consensuses on minimally invasive pancreas technique, comprehensive treatment and perioperative management, organized more than 50 courses on minimally invasive pancreas technique and MDT, and trained more than 1,000 students, making important contributions to promoting the development of the laparoscopic minimally invasive technique in China.

“From a surgeon’s point of view, it is our persistent goal to help patients achieve the best surgical results with the least trauma and the best prognosis. At present, the pancreatic center team of our hospital has mastered all methods for minimally invasive pancreatic surgery, and can perform the traditional laparoscopic minimally invasive surgery or robotic surgery according to the needs of patients,” said by Professor Chen Rufu, and then he added that, “Patients will ultimately benefit from the continuous development of medicine and techniques, and in the future, we will continue to explore better techniques to better serve patients”.