Robot does kidney-pancreas transplant

CHICAGO, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- A robot controlled by doctors has successfully performed the first living-donor kidney-pancreas transplant.

Surgeons at the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago (UIC) said they were able to use a combination of laparoscopy and robotic surgery to remove a kidney and pancreas from a living donor and transplant the organs into a patient.

The Jan. 12 procedure represents the first time removal of these two organs was done using a robotic arm, UIC said. The device is made by da Vinci Surgical System.

"The robot allows us to perform complex surgeries laparoscopically and spares the donor from open abdominal surgery, a large scar and a prolonged recovery," said Enrico Benedetti, professor of surgery at UIC and division chief of transplantation surgery. "In this case, it allowed us to more delicately preserve the splenic artery and vein and maintain the viability of the spleen," he said.

The organ recipient -- a 34-year-old man with Type 1 diabetes -- received his wife's left kidney and about 50 percent of her pancreas, UIC said. As a result of the surgery, the patient, who was in kidney failure, no longer requires insulin to control his diabetes.