The UAE's first robotic kidney donor surgery was carried out successfully at Mediclinic City Hospital on two male patients.
The surgery was carried out by Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU) and Mediclinic Middle East.
The Robotic Living Donor Nephrectomy surgeries were done by using the da Vinci Surgical System, which uses small robotic arms to imitate natural dexterity and lasts around three hours.
Controlled by a team of surgeons, the removal of the donor's kidney was done by making small incisions.
The surgery was done for a 42-year-old dialysis patient, suffering from end-stage renal disease, whose brother donated his kidney for the operation and a 32-year-old former flight attendant, whose first cousin donated his kidney.
One of the operations were funded through the Your Donation Saves Lives Ramadan campaign, which raised Dhs 22 million to cover the transplant surgeries for 38 patients.
Dr Farhad Janahi, Assistant Professor of Surgery, MBRU, Consultant Urologist and Transplant Surgeon and part of the Mediclinic City Hospital Transplant Team said, “Kidneys are at the back of the abdominal cavity behind the bowel in the retroperitoneum - a small space which is difficult to access. The robotic arm’s instrumentation offers a greater range of motion than the human wrist with efficient and precise action. This is incredibly useful for such deep anatomical areas. The advantage of this approach lies in its safety as the smaller incisions, combined with greater precision, help reduce pain and scarring and potential injury to the bowel, which ultimately leads to rapid recovery, less hospitalisation, and a faster return to normal life.”