A colorectal surgeon at a specialist hospital in Park Royal has become the first in the UK to perform a procedure while wearing an exoskeleton designed to reduce physical strain in the operating theatre.
Kapil Sahnan, a consultant at St Mark’s National Bowel Hospital, wore the device during a seven-hour operation. The lightweight suit is worn over scrubs and is designed to support the arms and shoulders during prolonged surgery, helping to combat muscular fatigue.
Mr Sahnan said: “Surgery can be physically very demanding, especially during longer procedures, which can last many hours. Being hunched over an operating table is not great for your posture, so this is a welcome piece of kit for surgeons.”
The exoskeleton was recommended after an assessment by Stanley, a company specialising in workplace ergonomics, which used an app called ErgoScan to analyse the surgeon’s movement.
The operation was carried out on a patient with inflammatory bowel disease who had previously undergone multiple surgeries, and involved removing an ileoanal pouch that had begun causing serious complications.
Mr Sahnan, recently appointed St Mark’s director of innovation, said the hospital would explore further uses of “cutting-edge tech” in future.
