gms | German Medical Science

65. Jahrestagung der Südwestdeutschen Gesellschaft für Urologie e. V.

Südwestdeutsche Gesellschaft für Urologie e. V.

25. - 28.06.2025, Ludwigshafen

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Benchmarking early outcomes of robotic kidney implantation: A meta-analysis and early results of a single-center experience

Meeting Abstract

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  • Sanam Fakour - Department of Urology, Heidelberg University Hospital
  • E. Novruzov - Department of Urology, Heidelberg University Hospital
  • A. Ramouz - Department of General, Visceral, and Transplantation Surgery, Heidelberg University Hospital
  • A. Majlesara - Department of General, Visceral, and Transplantation Surgery, Heidelberg University Hospital
  • M. Shahrbaf - Department of General, Visceral, and Transplantation Surgery, Heidelberg University Hospital
  • J. Huber - Department of Urology, Heidelberg University Hospital
  • A. Mehrabi - Department of General, Visceral, and Transplantation Surgery, Heidelberg University Hospital

Südwestdeutsche Gesellschaft für Urologie e.V.. 65. Jahrestagung der Südwestdeutschen Gesellschaft für Urologie e.V.. Ludwigshafen, 25.-28.06.2025. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2025. DocV9.5

doi: 10.3205/25swdgu74, urn:nbn:de:0183-25swdgu741

Published: June 11, 2025

© 2025 Fakour et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Outline

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Background: Robotic kidney transplantation (RKT) is a minimally invasive technique that offers benefits, including reduced morbidity and faster recovery. By synthesising data from meta-analyses and analysing our recent experience, we evalauted the intra- and postoperativ ouctomes of RKT, aiming to support its wider adoption and provide insights for centers looking to establish or enhance their robotic transplantation programs.

Methods: A comprehensive search of Medline (via PubMed), Web of Science and Scopus databases was conducted up to April 2024. Intra-, and postoperative data, including operative time, estimated blood loss, conversion rates, delayed graft function, major complications, graft survival and length of hospital stay, were collected. Meta-analyis was conducted through random effect model. In addition, the data of patients undergone RKT from October 2023 to the end of July 2024 at our instuition were extracted and analyzed.

Result: Twenty studies with 1,372 patients met the inclusion criteria and were included in the final analysis. Operative time was 252 minutes, with estimated blood loss of 117 mL. Major complications were 10%. The incidence of acute graft rejection was 11%. Delayed graft function was 5%. Length of hospital stay was 8.5 days. Graft survival at last follow-up was 95%. The open conversion rate was 1%. Eleven patients underwent living-donor RKT in our center with mean operation time of 357 minutes. No RKT was converted to open approach. The estimated blood loss was 320 mL. Only one patient developed major complication which was delayed graft function. Acute graft rejection was not reported in any patient. Length of hospital stay was 7 days.

Conclusion: Our experience with RKT in a series of eleven cases demonstrates that RKT can be performed safely and effectively with a skilled surgical team, even in centres that are new to this approach or that are looking to expand their robotic surgery programmes. The favourable results, such as no conversions to open surgery, low incidence of major complications and short hospital stay, are well in line with benchmarks from larger meta-analyses.