First in the world to perform robotic single-port kidney transplant

Cleveland Clinic is the first hospital in the world to successfully perform a robotic single-port kidney transplant, which enables all surgical instruments and the donor kidney to be placed through one small abdominal incision.

The technique, in which instruments as well as the donor kidney can be passed through a four centimeter wide incision, is designed to make it easier to perform transplants on patients with difficult anatomies and to cause less collateral damage to internal and external tissues.

“The aim was not only to make a smaller incision, but also to minimise the area in which the operation was performed by limiting the number of cuts inside the patient,” said Dr. Jihad Kaouk, director of Cleveland Clinic’s Centre for Robotic and Image Guided Surgery. “This resulted in minimal post-operative pain and no opioids needed after surgery.”

Overweight patients and those with unusual anatomies can be difficult to operate on, requiring extra cuts just to reach a destination. The newly performed kidney transplant paves the way for other procedures to be performed through only a single port.

“Kidney transplantation is a life-changing event for patients, many of whose quality of life has been negatively impacted by having to receive dialysis three times a week while waiting for a donor,” said Georges Haber, M.D., chair of urology in the Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. “This technique allows patients to regain their quality of life more rapidly. Using the latest technology to help our patients live a full life is the true spirit of innovation which we foster within the department of urology here at Cleveland Clinic.”

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