The kidneys are two small organs located behind the abdomen, on each side of the spine. By producing urine, kidneys remove toxic by-products and excess fluids from the body, which helps maintain a critical balance of salt, potassium and acid.
A common condition affecting the kidneys is blockage of the ureters, the tubes that transport urine from the kidneys to the bladder. Blockages of the ureters can be present from birth or acquired through illness or injury, and can create serious side effects like infections and kidney stones. If left untreated, blockages can cause chronic pain and may damage the kidney over time.
Cancer, a second condition affecting the kidneys, can form in the small tubes inside the kidney, which are used for filtering blood, and in the center of the kidney where urine collects.
Treatment Options
Non-cancerous kidney conditions involving a blockage can usually be treated by removing it; depending on the type of blockage, surgery may be used. Kidney cancer, on the other hand, is relatively resistant to radiation and chemotherapy.
As a result, the gold standard treatment for localized kidney cancer is removal of the kidney or kidney tumors. This is called nephrectomy, or partial nephrectomy.
Kidney surgery is traditionally performed using an open approach, which requires a large abdominal incision. Another approach, conventional laparoscopy, is less invasive, but limits the doctor’s dexterity, visualization and control, compared to open surgery.
da Vinci® for Kidney Conditions
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. It offers numerous potential benefits over a conventional open nephrectomy, including:
- 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
da Vinci Surgery for kidney conditions incorporates the best techniques of open surgery and applies them to a robotic-assisted, minimally invasive approach.
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.
As with any surgery, these benefits cannot be guaranteed, as surgery is patient and procedure specific.
If you are a candidate for kidney surgery, talk to a urologist who performs da Vinci kidney procedures.
Learn more
Read a sample consultation between a UCSD surgeon and a patient considernig robotic surgery
Watch a 52-minute presentation on the Advantage of Robotic Surgery
Mark Talamini MD, discusses the advantages of these new technologies and how they are best applied.