Livingston, N.J. -- A decade ago laparoscopic technology revolutionized the field of surgery, creating a new generation of minimally invasive procedures. Today, surgeons at Saint Barnabas Health Care System (SBHCS) have taken that technology one step further. They are using robotics to perform both living donor nephrectomies (kidney removal) and implantation of the kidney into the recipient.
In fact, Stuart R. Geffner, M.D., Director of Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Surgery, SBHCS Renal and Pancreas Transplant Division, is the first in the world to use the Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci ™ Surgical System to successfully implant a kidney into a living recipient. This procedure revolutionizes kidney transplant surgery, taking an open procedure to an advanced form of laparoscopic surgery.
“The robotic transplant requires a 5 cm incision which is just large enough to introduce the kidney into the recipient’s body. It is approximately one-third the size of a conventional ‘open’ transplant incision. I believe that this will be beneficial to the patient in terms of quicker recovery, as well as a lower incidence of the most frequent post-operative complications - wound infection and bleeding,” states Dr. Geffner.
For Jim and Maureen Schrader, it was transformational.
When Jim and Maureen met in 2004, they knew they were a perfect love match but they never realized just how perfect. A Type 1 diabetic since the age of 28, Maureen began to get sick around Christmas 2007. Over the ensuing months, her health deteriorated. One afternoon in early spring, her husband happened to stop home and found her passed out close to death on the floor. Soon after, doctors told her that her kidneys had failed and that she would need to have dialysis until a donor was found. They were referred to the Renal and Pancreas Transplant Division.
They met the transplant team and discussed their options which included the transplant list as well as the Living Donor Institute. Jim immediately volunteered to be tested and turned out to be a perfect match. “The match was so perfect, people asked us if we were related,” says Maureen. “God had us meet for a reason, and now we know why.”
Maureen and Jim are both doing well and are grateful to have each other. Now as Jim reminds Maureen, “Wherever you go, you will have a piece of me inside you. We are forever linked together.”
Benefit to Donors and Recipients
For the patient, robot-assisted surgery is safe, minimally invasive and offers faster recovery time. Patients usually leave the hospital within a day or two and resume normal activity shortly thereafter.
Dr. Geffner hopes that this new technology and the ease with which kidneys can be removed will encourage more people to become living donors. Currently, more than 90,000 people in the United States are waiting for a kidney transplant. Many have to wait five to seven years before they find a match. A shortage of living donors is one reason for the long wait.
The world-class Renal and Pancreas Transplant Division, with programs at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, N.J. and Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark N.J., is one of the world's most progressive transplant programs and one of the largest programs among 240 in the United States. In 2010, the Division achieved record-breaking volumes - performing 298 transplants, which included 135 living donor transplants. Living donation options include Living-Related and Emotionally-Related Donor Transplantation, Living Donor Kidney Exchange Program, Program for Incompatible Transplants and Altruistic Donation.
The Division offers several locations across New Jersey with convenient access from New York and Pennsylvania. To schedule a patient evaluation, become a kidney donor or learn more about The Living Donor Institute, please visit www.transplantkidney.org or call Newark Beth Israel Medical Center at 1.877.878.7555 or Saint Barnabas Medical Center at 1.888.409.4707.
Date: July 7, 2011
Contact: Samantha Anton, 973-322-5425
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