LITTLE ROCK , Ark.—A University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) surgeon became the first in the nation to perform a double robotic surgery, removing a patient’s cancerous kidney and cancerous prostate through a single, small incision using the da Vinci Surgical System robot.
“This is a big step forward for surgery and a tremendous advantage for the patient,” said Rabii Madi, MD, an oncologist with a focus on the kidney and prostate, and special training in minimally invasive and robotic techniques. “Having both procedures done this way minimized surgical risks, the use of anesthesia, his recovery time, time away from work, pain and his financial burden.”
Removal of the kidney and the prostate traditionally has been done using much longer incisions, which are more painful and heal more slowly. And each procedure would have been done separately, several weeks apart, further delaying the patient’s return to normal activities.
“Recovery time for both big surgeries would have taken at least eight weeks,” he said.
The robotic time for removing the kidney was 1 hour and 40 minutes, and removing the prostate took 2 hours and 20 minutes.
The surgery is the first to be done involving the complete removal of the kidney and prostate and performed by the same surgeon. The procedure was almost duplicated recently at the Vattikuti Urology Institute at Henry Ford Hospital in Michigan, which is renowned for its use of robotic surgery. In that case, the cancerous organs were removed through the same incision, but two surgeons were involved, with one removing the prostate and the other removing part of a kidney.
