Report: Last year was a record year for Polish robotic surgery

2024 was a record year for Polish robotic surgery, according to the latest, fifth report from the Modern Healthcare Institute. Last year, 17,100 robotic procedures were performed, a 70% increase compared to 2023. These procedures are now being performed in over 100 hospitals in Poland.

"We are making up for a 20-year lag in global surgical disease management," emphasizes Professor Tomasz Drewa, president of the Polish Urological Association, in his commentary on the "Robotic Surgery 2025" report. He notes that the years 2022 and 2023 were crucial, as the National Health Fund began to reimburse robotic procedures in urology, gynecology, and surgery.

"This has led to an expansion in the number of procedures over the past two years, as well as in the number of centers, the volume of operations, and individual surgeons," explains the specialist, one of the few surgeons in the country who most frequently performs this type of surgery. The professor is also the head of the General Urology and Oncology Clinic at Antoni Jurasz University Hospital No. 1 in Bydgoszcz.

According to the report, only 3% of robotic procedures were financed commercially (out of patients' own pockets), with the remainder paid for by the National Health Fund. Approximately 97% of all robotic procedures were for cancer treatment. There were approximately 500 non-oncological procedures, primarily in cardiac surgery, but also in gynecology, hernias, endometriosis, bariatrics, urology, and pediatrics.

The largest number of robotic procedures were performed in urology (67%), followed by gynecology and surgical oncology. Prostatectomy (removal of the prostate gland) was the most common, accounting for 61% of the total volume of such procedures. Other robotic urological procedures primarily concerned kidney cancer (usually nephron-sparing procedures) and bladder removal (cystectomy).

Another 13% of procedures involved colon cancer. Gynecological procedures accounted for 12%, with the majority being endometrial cancer (uterine lining) procedures. Approximately 5% of robotic procedures in Poland involved various oncological and non-oncological surgical procedures (including pancreatic, gastric, head and neck cancer, hernias, and bariatric surgery). Cardiac surgery accounted for approximately 2%, and thoracic surgery for approximately 1% of robot-assisted procedures.

As the report's lead author, Krzysztof Jakubiak, emphasizes, these procedures utilized da Vinci, Verisus, and Hugo surgical robots. However, da Vinci robots still dominate, with 88% of robot-assisted procedures performed using them. The Versius system was used in nearly 12% of surgeries. The first Hugo robot was introduced in December 2024, and by the end of last year, seven procedures had been performed using it.

In 2024, as many as 73% of all radical prostatectomy procedures in Poland were performed robotically. "In several other areas, robotic surgery has also gained a significant presence," Jakubiak points out. In prostate cancer, a quarter of procedures were performed robotically. In bladder cancer, 15% of procedures were robot-assisted (RAC), similar to colorectal cancer resections, and in kidney cancer, 9% of procedures were robotically assisted. Robotic procedures in the low-to-mid range are also being used in pancreatic cancer, gastric cancer, and head and neck cancer procedures.

The uneven access to robotic procedures across the country is concerning. On average, 94 robot-assisted surgeries were performed for every thousand new cancer cases in Poland. The Masovian Voivodeship had 185, while the Opole Voivodeship had only 13. "There is still no official register collecting data on robotic procedures," adds Krzysztof Jakubiak.

In terms of the number of operations performed in 2024, the Oncology Center named after Prof. F. Łukaszczyk in Bydgoszcz took first place – doctors there performed 838 operations using three da Vinci robots.

The Silesian Urology Center UROVITA, last year's leader in this ranking (638 surgeries in 2023), performed 782 procedures in Chorzów using two Versius systems. Third place went to the Military Medical Institute in Warsaw, whose doctors performed 704 surgeries in over ten treatment areas using two da Vinci robots.

The next two places on the list were also occupied by hospitals with two robots. The European Health Centre in Otwock performed 637 surgeries, primarily urological ones, including the highest number of prostatectomies (476) and kidney surgeries (107) in Poland. Meanwhile, the State Medical Institute of the Ministry of Interior and Administration in Warsaw performed 614 surgeries.

Over 300 physicians in Poland perform robot-assisted surgical procedures. The majority (over 200) are urologists, with approximately 60 surgeons specializing in colorectal procedures and approximately 30 in gynecological procedures.

The most procedures – 491 – were performed by Dr. Paweł Wisz, who works in six facilities (the State Institute of Medicine of the Ministry of Interior and Administration, the Klinach Hospital in Krakow, the Masovian Specialist Hospital in Ostrołęka, the SPSK No. 1 SUM in Zabrze, the Municipal Hospital in Olsztyn, and the Specialist Hospital in Nowy Sącz). In doing so, he set a new Polish record – the previous record (423 procedures) held by Dr. Paweł Salwa since 2019.

Second place in terms of the number of robotic procedures performed in 2024 was taken by Prof. Tomasz Drewa, who performed 309 procedures, almost all of them at the A. Jurasz University Hospital No. 1 in Bydgoszcz.

Third place in terms of the number of robot-assisted procedures performed in 2024 – 303 – was taken by Dr. Łukasz Nyk, who, in addition to 239 operations at his home European Health Center in Otwock, also worked at the Bielański Hospital in Warsaw, the Military Institute of Medicine, and the Cardinal S. Wyszyński Provincial Specialist Hospital in Lublin.

Five additional urologists performed over 200 procedures, working in one or two facilities. They were: Dr. Bartłomiej Małkowski (Oncology Center in Bydgoszcz), Dr. Jacek Kiś from the 1st Military Clinical Hospital with Polyclinic in Lublin, Dr. Tomasz Szopiński, who performs procedures in hospitals of the Mazovia Group, Dr. Paweł Salwa from Medicover Hospital, and Dr. Mateusz Jobczyk (Voivodeship Hospital in Bełchatów and Salve Medica in Łódź).

National Consultant in Oncological Surgery, Prof. Wojciech Zegarski, considers it positive that, with the rapid growth in the number of robotic surgeries, they are increasingly being performed in various surgical specialties, not just in urology, especially in prostate cancer. "These trends are also observed in other highly developed healthcare systems," he notes.

However, dark clouds have begun to loom over robotic surgery in Poland, related to a hole in the National Health Fund's budget. Krzysztof Jakubiak, the report's lead author, points this out: "Our public payer is making decisions aimed at cutting expenses, including by reducing the difference in reimbursement for these three services, which differ in pricing for classical, laparoscopic, and robotic procedures." (PAP)

Zbigniew Wojtasiński

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