The Bellvitge hospital has performed surgery to modify the genital physical characteristics using a surgical robot
El Bellvitge University Hospital de L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona) has carried out, for the first time in Europe, a surgery to modify the genital physical characteristics by means of a surgical robot, a technique developed in United States which reduces the operating time and the risk of complications. The intervention, a robotic vaginoplasty with peritoneal flap, was performed on a 30-year-old patient.
The most frequently used feminizing surgery is penile inversion vaginoplasty, that is, using the skin of the penis itself and scrotum as tissue for the creation of the neovaginal canal. The incorporation of robotic surgery to this technique allows the use of the peritoneal flap (a part of the tissue that lines the abdominal cavity) to, in this way, ensure depth and facilitate the creation of the channel of the new vagina.
For patients, the advantages of this new type of intervention are a lower risk of vaginal prolapse and possible injury to the rectum during surgery, as well as a reduction in the duration of the intervention. According to the hospital, in the future it is expected that this type of procedure will also shorten the hospital stay and «improve functional outcomes» of the patients.
Technique imported from the United States
The intervention was carried out jointly by urologists and plastic surgeons from the Transgender Surgery Functional Unit who did a two-month stay at the NYU Langone Hospital of New York with experts and world leaders in this type of technique.
«The four years of experience in this technique in the United States have shown that it is a very safe and advantageous procedure for patients«, has underlined the doctor of the Bellvitge Begoña Etcheverry Urology Service.
El Bellvitge University Hospital has two operating rooms equipped with the robotic system Da Vinci, with which he performs some 500 robotic surgeries annually.
THE#hbellvitge for the first robotic sex reassignment surgery in Europe
️️ https://t.co/L03mtr5Kjp#hospitalenxarxa #proudbellvitge #EquipHUB pic.twitter.com/5Y5Omlbspq— Bellvitge University Hospital | HUB (@hbellvitge) February 8, 2022
Bellvitge, specialized in sex "reassignment"
La Functional Transgender Surgery Unit of the Bellvitge University Hospital was launched in October 2019, after the Catalan Health Service designate this hospital as one of the three referral centers for Catalonia for surgical care for trans people.
It is a multidisciplinary unit with recognized experience in the field of complex genital surgery, where specialists from the Urology, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Gynecology, among others. Since its launch, it has made a total of 39 transgender surgeries. Genital reassignment offers trans people the possibility of reaffirming their identity.
