A Moroccan medical group has published what it describes as the first and largest African scientific study of robot-assisted prostate surgery, positioning the country among the more advanced markets for the technology on the continent. The study, carried out by Oncorad Group, appeared in the Journal of Robotic Surgery on July 20 and examined outcomes for 134 patients treated at Littoral Clinic Ain Diab in Casablanca during the first year the facility used the Toumai robotic surgical system.
Patients in the study had an average age of 67. Surgeons reported average blood loss of just 66 milliliters, no deaths among the cohort, and an average hospital stay of 1.4 days. The positive surgical margin rate — a measure of whether cancerous tissue remained at the edge of the removed tissue — was 11%, while urinary continence reached 88% one year after surgery.
Oncorad Group said the results were comparable to those reported by the world’s most established robotic surgical platforms, and described the study as the first published African research of its kind, the largest to date on the continent, and the one with the longest clinical follow-up.
The milestone builds on work by Dr. Youness Ahallal and his team, who performed the first robotic surgery in Africa outside South Africa in May 2024 — also the first procedure using the Toumai system anywhere outside China. The clinic has since carried out more than 300 robot-assisted radical prostatectomies.
Oncorad Group was founded in 2000 with a stated ambition of making advanced medicine accessible to every Moroccan patient.
