I've Gut You Under My Skin

The difference in quality of care and surgical technologies between low-income and high-income countries is ever growing. In rural India, 40% of surgical patients struggle to pay for their treatment. As such, a frugal and flexible approach to surgery is required. An example of this is the use of mosquito nets for hernia repair, which reduces the cost of materials 4,000 times! This talk will explore how these innovative approaches can be used to treat bowel cancer in rural communities across the globe, reducing the current expensive surgical requirements.

Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK, the early diagnosis through preventive screening is the key to increase the survival rate. However, endoscopic procedures such as colonoscopy are difficult to perform and painful for the patient, thus limiting the diffusion of the screening. As a consequence, new technologies for a fast, flexible and painless colonoscopy are required. During the talk, I will show the last advancements in the robotic technology for bowel endoscopy and present the research work performed by my group in the development of these devices.