Non-cancerous kidney conditions such as blockage of the ureter can usually be treated by removing the blockage. Surgery may also be used depending on the type of blockage. Blockages of the ureter can create serious side-effects like infections and kidney stones. If left untreated, blockages can cause chronic pain and may damage the kidney over time. Pre-cancerous or cancerous kidney tumors can also cause blockage.
About 50,000 Americans are diagnosed with kidney cancer each year. Nearly 13,000 Americans die each year from kidney cancer, of which the most common form is renal cell carcinoma. Kidney cancer is fairly resistant to radiation and chemotherapy. As a result, the gold standard treatment for localized kidney cancer is nephrectomy or removal of the kidney or kidney tumors.
Kidney surgery is traditionally performed using an open approach, meaning doctors must make a large abdominal incision. Another approach, conventional laparoscopy, is less invasive, but limits the doctor's dexterity, vision and control, compared to open surgery.
Using the da Vinci Surgical System, specially trained physicians now can perform sophisticated, minimally invasive surgical procedures to treat kidney diseases. This innovative technology incorporates the best techniques of open surgery and applies them to a more precise, minimally invasive approach.
If your doctor recommends surgery for a kidney condition, you may be a candidate for a robotic-assisted surgery. This technique offers several potential benefits over conventional open surgery, including increased potential for kidney preservation and better clinical outcomes, in many cases.
Only you and your doctor can decide whether robotic-assisted surgery may be right for you.
Learn more
Specially trained urologists perform minimally invasive robotic-assisted kidney surgery. At the SSM Robotic Surgery Institute, this surgery is performed by:
David Bryan, M.D.
J. Perry Lovinggood, M.D.
Asim Razzaq, M.D.
John McCarthy, M.D.
For a referral to any of these physicians, please call 1-866-SSM-DOCS (776-3627).