Surgical outcomes of robot-assisted partial nephrectomy in 12 cases

Objective To summarize the surgical experience in robotic-assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy,and to investigate the efficacy and safety of this surgery.Methods The clinical data of 12 patients who underwent robot-assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy in Changhai Hospital from March to July in 2012 were analyzed.All the patients were male and the age range was 43-66 years.In 4 cases the tumors were in the left kidney,and 8 in the right.In 7 cases the tumors were in the dorsal part of the kidney,and 2 in the ventral part.There were 3,5 and 4 cases in the upper,middle and lower pole of the kidney respectively.Preoperative GFR test was normal in all cases.Kidney CT scan showed the maximum diameters of the tumors were 2.0-5.8 cm,with an average of 3.3 cm.The pre-operative stages in all cases were T1N0M0.Results The surgery was successfully completed in all cases.The mean duration of the surgery was 160-310 min,with an average of 242 min.The blood loss was 30-300 ml,with an average of 135 ml,and the intraoperative blood transfusion was unnecessary.The warm ischemia time was 20-49 min,with an average of 31 min.There was no intraoperative morbidity,and no conversion to open surgery.The postoperative length of hospitalization was 9-31 d,with an average of 14 d.Gross hematuria arose in 1 patient at 1 week after the surgery.The post-operative pathology showed renal clear cell carcinoma with Furhman Grade Ⅱ in 11 cases,and renal angiomyolipoma in 1 case.The maximum diameters of the tumors were 2.0-5.0 cm,with an average of 3.5 cm.The tumor resection margin was negative in all cases.Conclusions Robot-assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy is safe and effective for local renal tumors.This surgery has significant advantage over traditional laparoscopic partial nephrectomy,in terms of the resection of the renal tumors and the reconstruction of the kidney. Key words: Robotics; Surgical procedures, minimally invasive; Laparoscopy; Partial nephrectomy