Surgical robot in action

After incisional hernia: “I looked like I was pregnant”

"I looked like I was pregnant," says Peter Bothe. Dr. Frieders-Justin (left) and Dr. Glaser operated on him with the robot.

(Bild: Jöchl Martin)

Pensioner Peter Bothe has undergone a "monstrous" operation. After a huge incisional hernia, the 66-year-old had to go into surgery. A robot rummaged through his insides.

Peter Bothe even has it on video. He is lying on the examination bed, the doctor says: "Push!" - and the 66-year-old pushes. His midsection inflates as if he were nine months pregnant in fast motion. When he exhales, the baby bump disappears again.

Peter Bothe is of course not pregnant, he had a diverticular hernia, western diet and old age, and the very explanation is not for those with a weak stomach. "Three years ago, the contents of my bowel burst into my abdomen. I was in a lot of pain," says the pensioner.

The "general service"
Emergency operation in Korneuburg, cut open from the sternum to the pubic bone. Parts of the intestine removed, appendix removed, gall bladder removed. "General service", the patient calls it and grins. "Connective tissue and muscles no longer grew together properly. There was only balloon-thin skin over it."

The robot makes such operations possible.

(Bild: Jöchl Martin)

This incisional hernia, 20 centimetres long and given a name, "monstrous hernia", had to be repaired. The fact that Bothe's stomach is flat and firm today is thanks to three doctors from the Donaustadt Clinic who performed his new operation in June:

Dr. Viktor Frieders-Justin (35 years old)

Dr. Benjamin Glaser (33 years old)

And the Da Vinci robot (1.5 years old).

Botox for the abdominal muscles
There is also a lot of Botox, as we know it from cosmetic surgery. "We inject it into the lateral abdominal muscles to soften the area," says Dr. Glaser. To give you an idea: beauty docs initiate 20 units to pacify frown lines. In Peter Bothe's case, it was 400 units.

Dr. Benjamin Glaser with part of the robot that disappears into the patient. The tiny gripper arms make procedures possible that were previously impossible.

(Bild: Jöchl Martin)

Robot makes the impossible possible
"With Da-Vinci, we can now perform operations that were previously impossible," explains Dr. Frieders-Justin. At first glance, the robot looks like a giant metal spider with a few legs missing. In the past, doctors had to use their hands to dig around in the abdominal cavity; today, tiny gripping tools controlled by a console do the job. Instead of slitting the body open lengthwise, seven tiny incisions were made in Bothe's case to secure the hernia with a mesh.

Monstrous incisional hernia, Botox, robots. "We are one of the few who perform this surgical technique," says Glaser. Head surgeon Dr. Sebastian Roka shows us the Da Vinci live during another operation: "We perform two to four procedures a day." While he raves about the robot, it is inside a patient, steaming away peritoneum from the inside.

Never lost his sense of humor
Peter Bothe is feeling great again: "There's a bit of tugging, but it goes away." In any case, he has never lost his sense of humor: "If the mesh inside me was made of Teflon, I could even go for a coffee at Reumannplatz."