A 37-year-old lung cancer patient is back at work less than five weeks after undergoing a groundbreaking surgical procedure at Burjeel Medical City in Abu Dhabi — one that has never been performed in the UAE before.
According to a Gulf News report, the patient initially sought medical attention for a persistent dry cough that failed to respond to treatment. Following a CT scan and biopsy, the results confirmed carcinoma. A multidisciplinary clinical review concluded that surgery was the recommended course of action.
What followed was the country’s first uniportal robotic lobectomy — a procedure that removes a portion of the lung through a single incision measuring just three centimetres, guided by robotic technology. Consultant thoracic surgeon Dr Taj Mohammed Fiyaz Chowdhry led the operation using the da Vinci Xi system, completing it in approximately four hours without complications.
Dr Chowdhry noted that the technique is best suited for early-stage cancer cases where lymph node involvement is not a significant factor, and that it delivers better outcomes alongside a faster recovery.
The results bore that out. The patient was discharged two days post-surgery — a sharp contrast to the five to seven days typically required following conventional thoracic procedures.
Burjeel Medical City attributed the milestone to the strength of its multidisciplinary teams and its ongoing efforts to adopt advanced technologies in minimally invasive surgery, positioning Abu Dhabi as a reference point for surgical innovation in the region.
