In country’s first, robot-assisted cancer kidney op in city hospital

MEDICAL FEAT Precision surgery with minimal blood loss allows quick recovery

In a first of its kind in the country, a robotically-assisted kidney cancer surgery was performed on a 34-yearold patient by doctors of Saifee Hospital in which the affected kidney was removed.

With the feat, Saifee became the first hospital in India that has performed the surgery in which the cancerous kidney of the patient was removed without damaging the healthy kidney which had been previously transplanted.

The doctors who performed the medical feat said the advantage of such a surgery is that the incisions made are tiny and therefore recovery is extremely quick. Blood loss and post-operative pain are also significantly reduced, they said.

The patient, who had undergone a kidney transplant surgery only a month ago, was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour in one of the failed kidneys.

“He had complained of abdominal pain in June after which a CT scan was conducted. The CT scan result revealed that he had a cancerous tumour in the failed kidney,” said Dr. Hemal Shah, a nephrologist at the Saifee Hospital, and informed that a robotic surgery was conducted to remove the affected kidney.

Of late, robotic surgery has grown globally to become the pick for precision surgical treatments related to kidney or prostate cancer across the world.

“Since the patient had a rare uro-oncological condition in which the transplanted kidney was in close proximity to the cancerous kidney, the robotic surgery was conducted to remove the cancerous tumour. The surgery lasted a mere 40 minutes and without damaging the functional kidney which was transplanted a month ago,” said Dr. Anup Ramani, UroOncological Robotic Surgeon.

He further stated that robotically assisted surgery allowed them to remove the cancerous kidney with much precision. “Since there was no blood loss and ensured faster recovery, the patient was discharged within three days,” Dr. Ramani said.

The robotically assisted system also allows the surgeon a three-dimensional view of organs such as kidneys and the prostate by magnifying the image to 12 times the size visible to the naked eye. Further, with 360degree movement of robotic arms, robotic surgery is the most precise, minimally invasive and necessary approach for a critical surgery of this kind, he added.