Robotic Transplants: Point of Technique

Abstract

Ever since Joseph Murray described allograft renal transplantation 60 years ago. Open renal transplant recipient surgery has been the standard of care. Few groups have described laparoscopic renal transplant recipient surgery [1]. Robotic renal transplant recipient surgery is still in evolution. It started when first robot was used for suturing in an open transplant [2], and then gradually surgical technique progressed and hand-assisted techniques were used and now it is being done intraperitoneally totally intracorporeally. Few cases of extraperitoneal robotic renal transplant recipient have also been described. Robotic renal transplant has a few proposed benefits like precision of suturing, quick recovery, decreased analgesic requirements etc. It also has its challenges like, intraperitoneal placement, method of hypothermia etc. In this chapter, we describe the technicalities of robotic renal transplants.