LONDON: A British-Pakistani consultant gynecologist and robotic surgeon has become the first in Britain to pioneer single-port robotic gynecological surgery and lead a program that has now performed more than 400 procedures using the technology.
Dr. Amer Raza and his team at Cromwell Hospital in London have advanced single-port robotic surgery from relatively straightforward benign gynecological procedures to some of the most complex endometriosis operations, according to reports. The program also provides training and surgical observation for doctors from the U.K. and abroad.
Unlike conventional multi-port robotic surgery, which generally requires several abdominal incisions, single-port robotic surgery allows the camera and multiple robotic instruments to operate through one abdominal entry point.
Raza, lead consultant for endometriosis and robotic surgery at Cromwell Hospital, has been praised in U.K. media coverage for pioneering the technique. The operating theater where his team performs complex single-port robotic procedures has become a training center, attracting surgeons from across the U.K. and Europe, as well as the United States and other parts of the world.
"More than 100 surgeons from the U.K. and abroad have visited our center to learn about single-port robotic gynecological surgery," Raza said. "Surgeons and consultants travel to London to observe us carrying out complex single-port robotic operations, exchange experience and learn how the technology can be applied to some of the most challenging cases in gynecological surgery."
Raza has received two Master Surgeon accreditations in Robotic Surgery and Advanced Endometriosis Care from the U.S.-based Surgical Review Corporation, making him the only consultant to hold two such accreditations in Europe. The accreditations followed an external review of his surgical practice, outcomes, complications, governance and standards of patient care.
The achievement comes three years after Raza set another record while leading a surgery using the da Vinci Surgical System for endometriosis treatment. He led a team at London's Chelsea and Westminster Hospital that performed 12 major operations in a single day — the maximum number of complex gynecological operations in two days — setting a new record in the use of robotic technology.
Originally trained in Pakistan, Raza is a graduate of Nishtar Medical College in Multan and has worked in the United Kingdom for more than 25 years. He has maintained links with Pakistan and believes advances in robotic surgery, artificial intelligence, surgical education and modern women's health care should be shared internationally.
