UniCamillus praises the work of Professor Giulio Sozzi, a UniCamillus lecturer in gynaecology and obstetrics on the MSc in Medicine and Surgery, who led the medical team that performed record-breaking surgery at the Giglio Hospital in Cefalù a few days ago.
In a four-hour operation, using a laparoscopic technique (i.e. without the more common open abdominal surgery, as the surgeon himself explained), an obese patient had a 40-centimetre tumour mass removed that extended into the pelvic and abdominal area.
This is an unusual procedure in the field, and it was made even more complicated by the patient’s particular condition: in addition to obesity, she suffered from a form of heart disease, venous insufficiency and a particular metabolic syndrome. These factors—explained Professor Sozzi—would in most cases have led to a traditional operation involving a long vertical incision from the chest to the pubic area. However, such an operation would have required a much longer hospital and post-operative stay, even more than a month, with the associated physical and personal discomfort for the patient. “From a surgical point of view, we preferred to make the maximum effort to reduce the patient’s hospital stay to the minimum”, said Professor Sozzi, who has been head of the gynaecology and obstetrics unit at the Giglio Hospital since 2022.
But he was also able to count on the trust, professionalism and expertise of his colleagues to carry out the operation. It is no coincidence that the Giglio Hospital in Cefalù represents excellence in healthcare both in Sicily and for the entire Italian NHS. UniCamillus is proud to have initiated a close collaboration with this institution last year, which also led to the launch of the MSc in Medicine and Surgery in Cefalù, in the province of Palermo, where Professor Sozzi teaches.
“The decision to perform such an operation depends essentially on the expertise of the medical team. At the Giglio Hospital, the vast majority of operations are performed by laparotomy, so even in such an extreme situation we decided to try this approach”, explains Professor Sozzi, who does not hide his satisfaction at having successfully completed the difficult operation. Above all, he knows that he has alleviated the patient’s suffering as much as possible: “Here at Giglio we specialise in laparoscopic and advanced oncological surgery. Therefore, we always try to do everything that is technically possible with this technique, in order to guarantee a significant benefit for the patient”.
The Rector of UniCamillus, Gianni Profita, also paid tribute to him and the entire team: “It is wonderful to know that the excellence of our University has a tangible and significant impact on safeguarding people’s health. Caring for the well-being and dignity of the individual, even before treating diseases, is one of the legacies of St Camillus De Lellis that we, as a University, have decided to collect and carry forward. This surgical procedure—so difficult and demanding for Professor Sozzi‘s medical team, but so successful in minimising the patient’s suffering—is a perfect example of what it means to put our inspiring principle into practice”.
Photo credits: ospedalegiglio.it