Spanish team transplants a kidney through one incision

Surgeons at Bellvitge University Hospital near Barcelona have transplanted a kidney through a single seven-centimetre incision. The hospital describes the robot-assisted operation as Europe’s first living-donor kidney transplant using this single-entry technique. The recipient has been discharged from hospital.

Performed in September, the operation used the same opening for the donated kidney, a camera and surgical instruments controlled by the surgeon. Conventional robotic procedures require several access points. Using just one leaves a single scar and is expected to reduce pain and speed recovery, although the transplant results themselves are comparable to those of conventional robotic surgery.

The first recipient, 58-year-old Sílvia Bribiesca, received a kidney from her husband after her kidney function had declined considerably. Around six weeks after surgery, she said she had regained about 95% of her energy and mobility. Her recovery, she reported, had been much easier than she had anticipated.

The approach is not suitable for everyone. Doctors must assess both the recipient’s anatomy and the characteristics of the donated kidney. Of roughly 50 robot-assisted living-donor kidney transplants the hospital performs annually, its team estimates that 20 to 25 could use the single-incision system. That offers a practical route to extending the technique while keeping patient selection central.