Annual Report 2023
Surgical Center
Tetsufumi Sato, Yuko Hirose
The Team and What We Do
Tumor surgeries are performed by 15 clinical departments in the operating rooms. From April 2023 to March 2024, the total number of surgeries was 5,642. Of these, 5,142 were performed under the management of the anesthesiology department (5,136 under general anesthesia), while the remaining 500 were performed under local anesthesia (Table 1, 2). In fiscal year 2023, surgeries were conducted with ongoing COVID-19 countermeasures in place, and the number of surgeries increased compared to pre-pandemic levels.
In fiscal year 2023, head and neck surgery also began performing robotic surgeries, in addition to urology, colorectal surgery, esophageal surgery, gynecology, gastric surgery, and hepatobiliary/pancreatic surgery. The total number of robotic surgeries was 473 (Table 3). With increasing demand for minimally invasive surgeries, preparations began in fiscal year 2024 for the introduction of a new single-port robotic surgery system, da Vinci SP.
Table 2. Number of anesthesia cases 
Table 3. Number of Robotic Surgeries
In recent years, there has been an increase in laparoscopic and thoracoscopic surgeries. Clinical engineers have been engaged in various tasks, including setting up endoscopic towers and surgical robots, performing radiofrequency ablation for breast cancer, and assisting with neurosurgery monitoring.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, training programs for foreign visitors in the operating room were temporarily suspended in fiscal year 2020. However, the acceptance of international students resumed in the fiscal year 2022. Surgical training necessary for acquiring da Vinci surgery qualifications and student practical training continued to accommodate many visitors and students in the 2023 fiscal year.