Doctors at a private hospital employed robotic technology and used the ‘firefly technique’ to remove a tumour from the kidney of a septuagenarian with chronic diabetes, hypertension, and suboptimal renal function.
The position of the tumour in the 71-year-old and his health condition ruled out a conventional or laparoscopic procedure. Doctors at Sai Uro Clinic decided to use robotic technology to excise the tumour from his right kidney. The procedure was necessitated as his left kidney had ceased functioning, and there was the risk of dependence on dialysis.
Vasantharaja Ramasamy, senior consultant uro-oncology, and Aarthy P., robotic surgeon, performed a partial nephrectomy to remove a part of the kidney. They used nephron-sparing surgery to prevent blood from reaching the tumour while letting it flow to the functioning nephrons to maintain the kidney’s filtering mechanism. The patient lost less than 50 ml of blood and did not require intensive care monitoring or dialysis support post-surgery. He was discharged within 48 hours as his kidney functions remained unaffected.
