Surgical technique benefits high risk kidney transplant patients

A surgical team at the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago performed the Midwest’s first fully robotic kidney transplant on a Chicago woman 6 June.

The surgery marks an advancement in the field of minimally invasive robotic surgery for complex procedures, particularly for patients who are at risk for infection.

Patients with a body mass index greater than 35 are at high risk of developing surgical site infections which can complicate recovery, says Dr Enrico Benedetti, the Warren H. Cole Chair and head of surgery at UIC.

Patients of normal weight who undergo traditional "open" kidney transplant surgery have a low risk (2 to 3 percent) of developing a surgical site infection, Benedetti said, but overweight patients have a much higher risk (25 to 30 percent) of wound infection.

In a traditional open kidney transplant procedure, a six- to eight-inch incision across the abdomen is required to implant the donor kidney. The UIC surgical team used the da Vinci Robotic System to transplant the kidney through a two-inch incision in the patient’s abdomen, and four tiny incisions to accommodate the laparoscopic instruments.

The minimally invasive robotic procedure reduces the patient’s risk of surgical site infection, postoperative pain and bleeding.

When physicians approached kidney transplant recipient Jennifer Yates, 34, about the minimally invasive robotic transplant, she eagerly agreed to the procedure with the hope that she would have a quicker recovery.

"I had more pain after the caesarean-section delivery of my daughter than I’ve experienced after the transplant," said Yates, mother of an 8-year-old.

In 2003 Yates was diagnosed with kidney failure, and for the past six years she has received dialysis three times each week. Her illness has significantly affected her ability to work and to enjoy activities with her daughter.

(Source: University of Illinois Medical Center: June 2009)