October 25, 2023- Mayo Clinic surgeons successfully performed Minnesota’s first robotic-assisted kidney transplant earlier this month. This minimally invasive procedure may be beneficial for patients with a higher body mass index and may reduce the risk of incisional complications, such as hernia or infection.
Mayo Clinic’s first robotic-assisted kidney transplant was successfully performed on Oct. 4 on a woman in her 60s who received a kidney from her daughter.
For patients with kidney failure, kidney transplant remains the best treatment available. Most kidney transplants are done via open surgery. The surgeon makes an incision 4- to 8-inches long on the right or left side of the lower abdomen to transplant the donated kidney. For a robotic-assisted kidney transplant, the surgeon makes a roughly 2-inch incision around the belly button and a smaller incision to insert the robotic instruments. The surgeon sits at a console that controls the surgical robot.
Mayo Clinic is the largest integrated transplant center in the U.S. Mayo Clinic Transplant Center in Minnesota performed 311 kidney transplants in 2022 — more than any other transplant center in the state.