Robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery

Laparoscopic surgery allows surgeons to perform corrective surgical procedures inside the abdomen through a through a small scope instead of a larger traditional incision. Robot-assisted laparoscopy surgery allows surgeons to perform more complex procedures through the scope with better precision.

How it works

The robot-assisted, minimally invasive approach allows the surgeon to operate inside the abdominal cavity with instruments introduced through tiny incisions in the abdominal wall. The robotic system (da Vinci surgical system) reproduces the surgeon's hand movements to the robotic instruments with incredible precision. Yet the surgeon is entirely in control of every movement. These instruments can move in a tiny surgical area of a child’s abdomen with more precision and greater range of motion than the human wrist.

Robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery involves only a few tiny incisions in the skin of approximately 5 mm. The surgeon inserts and controls the camera and instruments through these incisions. Robotic-assisted surgery provides up to 10 times magnification, helping the surgeon see small structures even more clearly than the traditional open-incision surgery.

Conditions treated

Our surgeons use to treat a variety of conditions that previously required open surgery. The most common robot-assisted laparoscopic surgeries in pediatric urology include:

• Nephrectomy (surgery to remove part of or an entire kidney)
• Nephroureterectomy (surgery to remove the kidney and ureter)
• Ureteral reimplantation (surgery to fix an abnormal ureteral check valve in the bladder)
• Pyeloplasty or Ureteropelvic junction obstruction repair (surgery to repair a blockage between the kidney and the ureter)

Many benefits to patients

This procedure offers many benefits to children, including:

• Better cosmetics (smaller scar) from a smaller incision
• Decrease in pain after surgery when compared to traditional surgery
• Less time in the hospital
• Shorter recovery
• Less blood loss
• Similar outcomes to open (traditional surgery)

Safety

Previously, the only way children could have robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery in Wisconsin was at an adult hospital. For children, it is safer to have this procedure done at a pediatric facility such as Children's, where the surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists and other care providers are all specialty trained to treat children.