First Robotic Assisted Kidney Transplant

According to Medical News Today, the first robotic assisted kidney transplant took place at Saint Barnabas Medical Center. Here's a snippet from the news story: "Transplant surgeon, Stuart R. Geffner, M.D., Director of Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Surgery, Saint Barnabas Health Care System 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."

The Saint Barnabas Renal and Pancreas Transplant Division has programs at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, N.J. and Newark Beth Israel Medical Center.

Robotic Surgery Like Star Trek

Dr. David B. Samadi, Chief, Division of Robotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery Mount Sinai School of Medicine, has a Forbes press release on his site titled, 'Star Trek' Surgery. Now that's my kind of title.

We have seen some tremendous advances in robotic surgery over the last decade. Intuitive Surgical, Inc. has a robot that has three or four extendable arms that a surgeon can control from a console in the operating room. The da Vinci robot has been around for many years and is used for various types of surgery including robotic prostatectomy for prostate cancer. Intuitive has sold 1,171 da Vinci systems around the world at an average price of $1.5 million. Image Source: Robotic Oncology by David B. Samadi, M.D.