Surgeons at Richmond, Va.-based VCU Health performed the nation’s first fully robotic living-donor liver transplant.
The surgery involved a woman with rare autoimmune liver disease who received the partial liver tissue from a living donor who had donated a kidney years before, according to an Oct. 15 system news release.
The liver was transplanted in March using the da Vinci 5 robotic system, which allowed surgeons to operate through tiny incisions. The patient was walking just one day after surgery and went home in record time, according to the release.
“Robotic technology makes complex liver transplants less invasive and safer — and it has the potential to expand access for the growing number of patients who can’t afford to wait,” Seung Lee, MD, PhD, Hume-Lee Transplant Center’s liver transplant surgical director and one of the participating surgeons, said in the release. “This milestone isn’t just about one patient. It’s about opening doors for many more — faster recovery, less pain and, ultimately, more lives saved.”
