A city hospital recently used a robot to harvest a kidney from a donor before transplanting it into another person.
Robotic intervention means smaller incision and shorter hospital stay for the donor, said the doctor who performed the surgery on June 16.
The technique is called “robotic retroperitoneal living donor nephrectomy”.
“Peritoneum is the tissue that lines our abdominal wall. There are two compartments in the abdomen. Organs like small and large intestines and liver are inside the peritoneum. Kidneys are outside and behind the peritoneum,” said Forqan Babu Shaikh, consultant, general, renal transplant and robotic surgery at the RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences in Mukundapur.
The 34-year-old donor was discharged on June 18, two days after the surgery.
“The robotic model, the latest technological advancement, involves an incision of 8mm, compared to 10-12mm in a laparoscopic surgery. The patient (donor) can be discharged within 24 to 48 hours. In laparoscopic surgery, it takes three to five days to discharge the patient.... In laparoscopic nephrectomy, the movement of surgeons’ hands can lead to tearing in muscles,” Shaikh said.
The 48-year-old recipient, who got the kidney on June 16, was discharged on June 23.
He had been on dialysis for three years. The donor and the recipient are from the same family.
A robotic surgery is “Rs 1 lakh” costlier than laparoscopic nephrectomy, said an official of the hospital.