Robotic Kidney Surgery

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. This 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 incision that cuts through muscle and, often, requires removing part of a rib to get to the kidney. The incisions can be 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™ nephrectomy, surgeons insert instruments 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 facilitate a minimally invasive approach to treating kidney disorders and kidney cancer.

da Vinci® Surgical System

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 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.

Our Lee Health surgeons use the da Vinci™ Surgical System, to operate through just a few small incisions. The da Vinci™ System features a magnified 3D high-definition vision system and tiny wristed instruments that bend and rotate far greater than the human hand.

As a result, da Vinci™ enables your surgeon to perform your surgery with enhanced vision, precision, and control. Robotic kidney surgery enables you to recover faster and with less pain than traditional open surgery.

The da Vinci™ XI provides a unique and new surgical approach to very invasive traditional alternatives.

Potential Benefits

• 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

As with any surgery, these benefits cannot be guaranteed, as surgery is patient- and procedure-specific.