Robot transplant

A surgical team at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust Hospital in London has performed the UK’s first live kidney transplant operation using a robot.

Surgeons used a state-of-the-art robot called da Vinci to help remove a patient’s kidney before transplanting it to her partner using conventional open surgery.

The robotic operation was performed by a team including surgeons Prokar Dasgupta and Nizam Mamode from Guy’s and St Thomas’ and Raja Kandaswamy from the University of Minnesota.

The da Vinci robot is one of only two in the UK. During the operation, it is directed by a surgeon at a special console to carry out minute movements inside the body through three tiny keyhole incisions.

The robot’s small wristed instruments can move in all directions to allow surgeons to perform highly complex procedures. It also has a three dimensional camera which is placed inside the patient’s abdomen, allowing surgeons to see exactly what the instruments are doing.