Robotic Partial Nephrectomy
Penn Urologists are now performing robotic partial
nephrectomy surgery for patients with kidney
cancer. The object of partial nephrectomy surgery is to remove a tumor and leave the remaining kidney in place. In addition to robotic surgery, the surgical techniques used today to perform partial nephrectomy include open surgery and laparoscopic surgery.
Benefits and Surgical Advances
Robotic partial nephrectomy is the culmination of many years of advances in surgical technique. When compared to earlier surgical methods, the benefits of robotic partial nephrectomy for patients include less post-operative pain, less blood loss and a quicker return to normal, everyday activities than with conventional open surgery. Read
more about the benefits of robotic surgery >>
How Does it Work?
Because so much blood passes through the kidney, the kidney’s major blood vessels are closed with clamps during partial nephrectomy. This “warm ischemia” cannot continue for longer than 30 minutes, however, without damaging the kidney tissues.
During this 30 minute interval, the surgeon
must remove the tumor with a margin of healthy
tissue and reconstruct the remaining healthy
tissue. This is extremely difficult to do with
non-robotic minimally invasive techniques — so
much so that these approaches have not been widely
used for partial nephrectomy.
* In Nephrectomy, one incision is enlarged for
removal of the kidney.
To perform robotic surgery, four tiny incisions
are made in the patient's abdomen and the laparoscopic
instruments are carefully inserted and attached
to the robot. Once setup is completed, the surgeon
sits at the console where the surgeon controls
the robotic instruments. Read
more about how robotic surgery works >>
About Dr. Schwab
Based at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Penn's robotic partial nephrectomy program is led by C. William Schwab II, MD. Dr. Schwab is fellowship-trained in minimally invasive procedures and also works with David I. Lee, MD on robotic prostatectomies.
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