A Moroccan medical group has published what it describes as the first and largest African scientific study on robot-assisted prostate surgery. The study, published in the Journal of Robotic Surgery on 20 July, examined the results of 134 patients treated at Littoral Clinic Ain Diab in Casablanca during the first year of using the Toumai robotic system.
The patients had an average age of 67. Surgeons reported average blood loss of 66ml, no deaths and an average hospital stay of 1.4 days.
The study also found a positive surgical margin rate of 11%, while urinary continence reached 88% one year after surgery.
Oncorad Group said: “These results are comparable to those reported with the most established robotic platforms in the world.”
The group said the study was “the first published African scientific study of robotic surgery, the largest to date, as well as the one with the longest clinical follow-up”.
Dr Youness Ahallal and his team performed the first robotic surgery in Africa outside South Africa in May 2024. It was also the first procedure performed outside China using the Toumai robotic system.
The clinic has since carried out more than 300 robot-assisted radical prostatectomies.
Oncorad Group was founded in 2000 by Professor Redouane Samlali and Dr Omar Hajji. It says its ambition is to “make tomorrow’s medicine accessible to every Moroccan”.
