The first surgery in the most modern gynecological endoscopic room in Poland was performed by doctors from the Gynecology Clinic at the University Teaching Hospital in Białystok.
The room was equipped as part of the project Providing the highest standard of care to a woman through the development of endoscopic techniques, for which the clinic in Białystok received about PLN 3,5 million from the so-called Norwegian funds and the Ministry of Health.
The first emergency case was operated in the room. It was an operation for a 32-year-old patient with an ectopic pregnancy who had to have the fallopian tube removed. As doctors say, the operated case was not complicated. As it was the first operation on the new equipment, it is important because doctors were able to check how it works in practice, the deputy head of the Gynecology Clinic with the Operating Room, Prof. Jacek Szamatowicz.
We are already starting to fully implement the project and perform operations, told PAP, the project’s substantive coordinator, Dr. Piotr Laudański. He emphasizes that endoscopic techniques are primarily minimally invasive, the so-called sparing operations that are less burdensome for patients than traditional operations. Women recover faster, which is also more beneficial for the hospital because it incurs lower costs.
Laudański recalled that the new equipment will enable less invasive surgery of cervical cancer or fibroids, especially in young women, so that they can become pregnant in the future, and fetoscopic surgery of some fetal defects in the mother’s womb. It is mainly about the so-called stealing syndrome in twin pregnancies. This syndrome occurs when twins share a placenta and have abnormal blood vessels. Then one twin steals the blood from another, one child is bigger, the other one is very small, although the bigger one is also in a disadvantageous situation, because it is overloaded by circulation. Treatment is based on laser correction of these abnormal connections, which is performed at the appropriate time of pregnancy.
Prof. Jacek Szamatowicz estimates that now even about 80 percent. all gynecological operations can be performed with the endoscopic technique. Szamatowicz emphasized that the new equipment gives a very good visualization on monitors, which was not the case with the old equipment. He added that one of the most important aspects that will be used in the future will be the Internet transmission of data from the operating room, which will allow cases to be consulted anywhere, and it will also allow doctors to be trained. The room enables archiving data from operations, which can be used for analyzes and training, analyzes of operations and individual cases.
The trainings are also one of the elements of the project implemented thanks to a grant for Norwegian funds. According to Laudański, about 500 gynecologists and family doctors have already been trained. General practitioners learned about general gynecological issues. However, specialists from the university hospital are still training modern endoscopic techniques in several centers abroad.
There are currently 3 operating rooms in the Gynecology Clinic. This year alone, doctors have performed about a thousand operations there, informed Dr. Laudański. There are no queues for treatments.
The value of the entire project is approx. PLN 3,5 million, of which approx. it is a subsidy from the Ministry of Health, the rest comes from Norwegian funds. The project will last until 15.
The Norwegian Financial Mechanism is a non-returnable financial aid for Poland granted to Eastern Europe by three countries (Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) in connection with Poland’s accession to the European Union and the European Economic Area (PAP).