A 70-year-old patient, with a burdensome medical history (cancer patient since seven years) and multiple serious health problems at the same time, first underwent a laparoscopic cholecystectomy and then an abdominal aortic aneurysm treatment with placement of endovascular grafts, at the same surgical time.

The two operations were performed by the chief surgeon and coordinator Mrs. Eleni Karafoka-Mavrou General SurgeonDirector of the Second Clinic of Robotic Surgery & Surgical Oncology Metropolitan General and her team, Mr. Marios Papachrysostomou, Supervisor of Surgery and Mrs. Maria Psarrou Anesthesiologist, in collaboration with the head of the vascular surgery team, Mr. Nikolaos Patelis and the associate Vascular Surgeon Mr. Ioannis Tsagos. This particular double surgery had a high degree of difficulty and an added level of risk. All available (for both specialties) modern biomedical technology was used to carry out the project.

A total of 10 people were employed throughout the operation, doctors, nursing staff, an x-ray machine technologist and a person trained in the management of specialized surgical materials.

All the participants recognized from the beginning the special requirements and the great degree of difficulty of the specific undertaking. The two surgical teams were fully coordinated in the selection and preparation of the operating room, in the selection of equipment, tools and special materials and in the briefing and coordination of the specialized support staff for both operations. The collaboration started with the diagnosis, recognition and management of risks and special needs and ended with the strict post-operative monitoring and management of the patient.

The patient’s perioperative course was smooth and uneventful. No hospitalization was required in the unit, which certainly would have happened if the two surgeries had been performed by the open method. After the surgery, he recovered well and was transferred to his room, while the next day he was fed and mobilized normally. After being discharged on the 2nd postoperative day, he returned with instructions to his place of residence outside Athens.

“The use of modern surgical techniques and advanced tools is another therapeutic “weapon” in the quiver of surgeons of the new millennium. These capabilities find a suitable field of application in the treatment of patients with complex diseases, a high level of risk and difficulty in prioritizing, in terms of the order in which they should be treated. The coexistence of specialized surgical teams on the same patient, at the same surgical time, reduces costs and hospitalization times, improves the therapeutic effect but also the psychological and emotional burden of the patient and his family” concludes Mrs. Karafoka – Mavrou.