Surgeons in America have presented a technique for a living donor robotic kidney transplant that leads to lower wound complication rates and a quicker recovery.
At SAGES (Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons), Dr Caroline J Simon, senior staff surgeon and fellowship program director at the Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington, showed a video of a robotic kidney transplant performed on a 53-year-old woman who received a living donor kidney graft from her daughter.
Surgeons made five incisions for four robotic ports and two laparoscopic ports, with one GelPort (Applied Medical) used as both a laparoscopic and robotic port.
Robotic dissection prepared the iliac vessels for implantation, while waiting for the living donor nephrectomy procurement. The graft was inserted via the GelPort in the umbilicus, and the robot was used to perform all anastomoses. The total warm ischemia time was around 40 minutes.
Dr Simon and her colleagues performed their first robotic kidney transplant in January 2020, after adapting the technique from surgeons at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.
They have now operated on eight patients using the robotic approach. Dr Simon has said the patients have experienced excellent wound healing, lower narcotic pain usage and shorter hospital stays.
Surgeons at SAGES have described the total robotic approach as promising.
