Robotic assisted microsurgery in hypothenar hammer syndrome: a case report

Abstract

We report the case of a patient with bilateral hypothenar hammer syndrome. The therapeutic decision was to resect a thrombosed segment of the distal ulnar artery then reconstruct it using a forearm venous graft. The original aspect of this case concerns the microsurgical technique employed: All vascular sutures were made by separate nylon 10/0 stitches using a da Vinci S surgical robot. No particular problems were observed postoperatively and, except for some cold-related pain, the patient no longer experienced any symptoms at 6 months post-surgery. This clinical case shows that robots may be employed for some specific tele-microsurgical procedures.