The Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva performed the world's first robotic surgery on a woman in advanced pregnancy without having to open her abdomen, the hospital announced on Thursday.
Tzofiya Leibovich, 23, gave birth to a baby girl weeks after the surgery was completed successfully.
Leibovich was originally diagnosed with acute intestinal inflammation by doctors at Rabin Medical Center's Maternal-Fetal Unit. After her diagnosis, the inflammation worsened, and a hole developed in her intestine.
She was then diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and was admitted to the hospital during her 32nd week of pregnancy, necessitating her to undergo emergency robotic resection surgery.
"I didn’t want to deliver early, to be left with a large scar across my abdomen, and certainly not with a stoma," Leibovich said. "I was paralyzed, unable to sleep, screaming from unbearable pain."
Dr. Ian White, the Rabin Medical Center's Colorectal Surgery Unit Director, stated that the general approach to medical emergencies similar to Leibovich's would usually be a full open abdominal surgery, which would result in the baby being born prematurely.
White led Leibovich's operation, alongside Prof. Asnat Walfisch, Director of the Women’s Hospital, and Prof. Eran Hadar, Head of Maternal-Fetal Medicine. Dozens of medical staff were involved in the operation.
The unique laparoscopic surgery allowed Leibovich to carry her baby to term naturally. Laparoscopy refers to a "minimally invasive procedure that looks inside your stomach or pelvis," according to the Cleveland Clinic.
The procedure had never been attempted before
"At every stage we debated whether to continue or convert to open surgery," White said. “As long as both mother and fetus remained stable, we pressed on. The operation succeeded, her pain subsided." The medical official also noted his anxiety for Leibovich weeks after the surgery until her baby was born, stressing that "this procedure had never been attempted before."
Leibovich noted that she understood that "they would try laparoscopic surgery with very low chances of success, and most likely they’d have to open me up and deliver the baby.
She noted that White, who is religious, "came to the hospital on Shabbat, and that’s when I realized how extraordinary this moment truly was."