A Cambridge market stall holder has praised her recent robot-assisted thoracic surgery at Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust for helping her to recover swiftly and return to serving her customers.
Charlotte Gregersen (62), who runs designer and vintage clothing stall ‘Moral Fibre Vintage’ in Market Square three days a week, had a minimally-invasive lung operation called a robotic segmentectomy to remove a piece of her right lung which contained a metastatic cancerous nodule (a small secondary cancer that had spread from elsewhere).
Charlotte is back working on her designer and vintage clothing stall in Cambridge market
Charlotte’s operation was carried out by a surgical team at Royal Papworth, led by consultant thoracic surgeon Mr Aman Coonar, using the Versius surgical robot from Cambridge-based CMR Surgical.
Charlotte, who originates from Copenhagen but has lived in Cambridge since 2005, was referred to Royal Papworth earlier this year where the nodule was identified and the decision was made to remove it.
This followed a long cancer journey that began nine years ago for her and had seen multiple hospital visits for different treatment.
Charlotte said: “I found the whole experience to be excellent. I always felt informed: the pre-operative information was fantastic and the care and support I received at Royal Papworth was incredible.
“Mr Coonar explained that the robotic-assisted surgery would be minimally-invasive and lead to a quicker recovery time. I had the operation through tiny incisions on the Monday and returned home on the Tuesday, which was very positive.
“The job I have is quite physical, so I had to make sure I recovered fully, but I was back at my stall within a month. I love working outside, I love my stall, and I’ve built up a good clientele that keep me busy.”
The Versius robot allows surgeons to perform even more minimally invasive surgery
In 2023, Royal Papworth became the first UK hospital to use Versius for thoracic surgery and its surgical teams have since used it to perform more than 250 minimally invasive procedures.
The use of Versius allows surgeons to make tiny incisions and work precisely inside the chest cavity, which can all be seen in a magnified 3D view.
Its use at Royal Papworth has led to improved outcomes and recovery times for patients across the East of England, reducing their length of stay in hospital.
The Versius robot console allows surgeons to perform thoracic surgery whilst using 3D vision, giving them the feeling of being inside the chest
Mr Coonar added: “The CMR robot helps us to do some operations better. We see that patients recover well and generally have little pain. The system is also portable meaning it can be moved between theatres, which means more teams can use it.
“The system is improving all the time and our team is also getting slicker in its use. As the NHS England national lead for thoracic surgery, I can say that our thoracic surgery teams are committed to improving the care for cancer patients.
“We are also proud to be using British designed and British built technology.”
Representatives from Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and CMR Surgical with two arms from the Versius surgical robot
Massimiliano Colella, CEO of CMR Surgical commented: “Royal Papworth are global leaders in cardiothoracic care. We a proud to be in partnership with them as they reach this latest milestone with Versius.
“Versius was created to bring more patients the benefits of robotic assisted minimal access surgery, so we are delighted to see the tangible positive impact Versius has had for patients like Charlotte, including improved outcomes and quicker recovery times right here in Cambridge.”
Consultant thoracic surgeons Mr Peryt, Mr Aresu and Mr Coonar (all back row, central) with surgical colleagues