NEWSROOM
First Kidney Cancer Removal Through Single Belly Button Incision
Media Contact:Jason Merrill
314-286-0302
jmerrill@bjc.org
Robotically-Assisted Operation Performed by Washington University Surgeons at Barnes-Jewish Hospital
August 4, 2008, ST. LOUS – Imagine cancer surgery with barely a scar to show for it.
For the first time in the world, Washington University surgeons at Barnes-Jewish Hospital removed a large kidney cancer through a single incision at the patient’s belly button.
The world’s first single incision robotic surgery (SIRS) was performed August 1 using the da Vinci® Surgical System in a two and a half hour procedure to remove a patient’s kidney and a tumor measured at 12 centimeters – about twice the size of the kidney itself.
“We traditionally try to save the kidney for smaller tumors. For larger tumors, however, patients would get a very large incision on their side,” says Sam Bhayani, MD, urologic surgeon at the Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine. “Here, we were able to remove the tumor through a three inch incision right at the patient’s belly button. Unlike the commonly performed laparoscopic surgeries, there is only one tiny incision here.”
Dr. Bhayani and his colleagues have also pioneered robotic surgery for small kidney tumors . They have performed more than 100 such procedures since May 2007 using four or five one-inch incisions. While these procedures are considered revolutionary because they preserve the healthy portion of the kidney and shorten recovery time, they are not practical for patients with large tumors.
“I think this is going to be a big advance when removing the entire kidney is indicated. That is typically for larger kidney tumors. It is a great advance over traditional open and laparoscopic surgeries.”
In the SIRS procedure, Dr. Bhayani inserts the robotic arms through a single incision at the belly button, and sits at a nearby machine controlling the robot throughout the operation. “I’m literally controlling it to do every move,” says Dr. Bhayani. “My robotic instruments are like having hands inside the body.”
The benefits to performing the procedure this way are not only cosmetic, recovery times are considered quicker as well.
Kidney cancer is diagnosed in approximately 55,000 people a year and the most common treatment option is an open surgery with a large incision about a foot long. Surgeons sometimes remove a rib, and they must go through muscle to remove the kidney. Recovery is usually about two months with a weeklong hospital stay.
“We seem to really be pushing the envelope by doing a tumor that’s 12 centimeters in size,” says Dr. Bhayani. “I’d say this procedure could conceivably be performed in about 99 percent of all patients with large tumors.”
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