Oct 7 2010
Surgeons at the UT Southwestern Medical Center, North Texas have performed the region’s first robotic surgery for kidney repair via a single-incision.
The patient was suffering from severe abdominal pain due to the innate contractions of the ureters. Ureters are tubes that link the kidney to the bladder for transferring urine. When these tubes are twisted, the flow of urine gets disturbed resulting in severe pain and will ultimately lead to irreparable kidney injury.
Dr. Jeffrey Cadeddu, Professor of urology has stated that even though this problem is rare and if left undetected for an extensive period the kidney may stop functioning. He said that before ten years, this procedure was termed as pyeloplasty featuring a highly invasive procedure with a prolonged recovery period. Later in 2007, they performed a laparoscopic procedure through the belly button and over the last few years new innovations have profoundly led to the adoption of robotic surgery since it features lesser and minor incisions.
UT Southwestern had procured the DaVinci robot in 2006 and till date their surgeons have performed intricate thoracic, urologic and bariatric robot-assisted surgeries. The latest generation of DaVinci robot included in this medical centre is the DaVinci SI. The patients can resume their normal activities within a few weeks following the DaVinci- assisted surgery.
Source: http://www.utsouthwestern.edu