A Less Invasive Approach
If your doctor recommends surgery for a kidney condition, you may be a candidate for a new, minimally invasive approach—da Vinci® surgery.
da Vinci® surgery uses state-of-the-art technology to help your doctor perform a more precise operation than conventional instrumentation allows.
Open kidney surgery often requires a large the incision which cuts through muscle and, often, requires removing part of a rib to get to the kidney. The incisions can be quite painful and often require a hospital stay of 3- 7 days.
da Vinci® surgery for kidney conditions incorporates the best techniques of open surgery and applies them to a robotic-assisted, minimally invasive approach. In da Vinci® nepherectomy, instruments are inserted into the patient through small incisions, and one incision is slightly enlarged for removal of the kidney. The precision and dexterity afforded by the da Vinci Surgical System’s advanced instrumentation facilitates a minimally invasive approach for treating kidney disorders and kidney cancer.
Types of da Vinci® Kidney Surgery
- Partial and Radical Nephrectomy
- If your doctor recommends surgery for a kidney disease such as kidney cancer, you may be a candidate for a minimally invasive, kidney-sparing surgery. Depending on your disease state and tumor location, you may not have to lose your entire kidney to surgery. A surgical technique called partial nephrectomy removes only the diseased part of your kidney while sparing the healthy, functioning kidney tissue.
- Pyeloplasty
- If your doctor recommends surgery to treat urinary obstruction, you may be a candidate for a new, minimally invasive approach – da Vinci® Surgery for Urinary Obstruction. This surgery, known as pyeloplasty, removes the blockage in the urinary system. During surgery, your doctor will reattach the healthy part of the kidney to the healthy part of the ureter – the narrow tubes that carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder. da Vinci Surgery uses state-of-the-art technology to help your doctor perform a more precise operation than conventional surgery.
Potential Benefits Include
- Significantly less pain
- Less blood loss
- Fewer transfusions
- Less risk of infection
- Less scarring
- Shorter hospital stay
- Shorter recovery time
- Increased potential for kidney preservation in certain prescribed cancer operations
- Better clinical outcomes, in many cases