The USA has conducted the world's first double lung transplant using a robot.

The USA has performed the world's first robotic double lung transplant. This news is reported by Reuters.

The operation was conducted on Sheryl Merkar, who had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She had a genetic predisposition to lung diseases and was diagnosed with COPD at the age of 43. After contracting COVID-19 in 2022, her condition significantly worsened.

Sheryl Merkar is a volunteer paramedic with the fire service. She was involved in sports and had extensive experience as a diving instructor and martial arts trainer.

The robotic double lung transplant was performed on Merkar at the end of October at NYU Langone Health in New York. A month prior, the same clinic had already carried out the first similar operation, but with a single lung transplant.

Doctors Stephanie Chang and her team used the Da Vinci Xi robot. They made small incisions between the ribs and replaced the damaged lungs with the help of the robot.

This procedure significantly reduced sternum injuries, as the incision was only 2 inches instead of the usual 8.

Sheryl received new lungs 4 days after being placed on the waiting list.

«As soon as they added me to the list, I thought: okay, I have a few more months. And five days later, they called me. They said there was a 98% match, how quickly can you get here? And my first reaction was: Oh my God, I will be there in two hours», the patient recounted.

Let's recall that earlier, doctors in Lviv performed an operation using a robotic surgeon on a six-year-old girl.

Moreover, it was previously reported that doctors at Okhmatdyt performed a unique operation to transplant part of a liver to a five-month-old boy, which was his only chance for survival.