China-France Medical Ties: Chinese and French surgeons exchange knowledge on robotic pancreatic surgery

A team of surgeons from France have traveled to Guangzhou to exchange knowledge with Chinese experts in robotic pancreatic surgery. Zheng Songwu has details.

According to the World Health Organization, around 470,000 people die from pancreatic diseases each year. Professor Yin Xiaoyu at the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University began performing robotic pancreatic surgeries in 2015. Since then, his team have completed more than 800 such procedures, making it one of the highest-volume robotic pancreatic surgery programs in the world.

YIN XIAOYU Vice President, Professor The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University "Over the past few days, I showed several cases of the robot-assisted pancreatectomy for them, and we discussed surgical techniques."

Surgeons at France's Jean Mermoz hospital perform about 140 pancreatic surgeries each year.

RAPHAËL BOURDARIAT General and Digestive Surgeon Hôpital Privé Jean Mermoz, France "Here I found some technical points. I will come back home with it. Next week I will do it on my own patient. The other thing we try to find here is to see how it is in a hive – the robotic pancreatic surgery center, to see the organization, to see how it's possible to do it very, very often."

WILFRID BOLOPION Senior Scrub Nurse Hôpital Privé Jean Mermoz, France "The hospital provides a lot of stuff and materials to help nurse work, to make it easy, like robots, like pumps that transfer materials, etc."

By sharing cutting-edge robotic techniques, surgeons from both countries are working together to build a more hopeful future for patients battling pancreatic diseases worldwide.