Glickman Urological & Kidney Institute pioneers world 'firsts'

Creating the next wave in robotic and laparoscopic surgery

'Today' show segment highlights successful live kidney donation

For a fascinating insight into new Cleveland Clinic surgical procedures that are making an impact on urological and kidney treatments throughout the world, watch a "Today" television show segment featuring a successful live kidney donation performed with single-port laparoscopy. According to the report, this surgical procedure represents "the next advancement of laparoscopic surgery" and may offer "a post-operative recovery that is phenomenally faster."

Watch the Today Show story on how Cleveland Clinic surgeon Dr. Inderbir S. Gill performs a successful live kidney donation through single belly button incision.

Single Port Physicians at Cleveland Clinic's Glickman Urological & Kidney Institute recently pioneered several surgical procedures that have been the first of their kind in the world. Ranked by U.S. News & World Report as among the top two urology programs in the nation for eight consecutive years, the Institute is a world leader in treating complex urologic and kidney conditions in adults and children. And now, the Institute has made an even greater international impact by performing groundbreaking surgeries that utilize robotic and laparoscopic techniques.

Advancing the emerging field of single-port laparoscopy, Cleveland Clinic's minimally-invasive urology team recently performed a series of surgeries through a single, tiny incision. The team has even pioneered virtually scar-free, single-port laparoscopic surgery by concealing the incision within the belly button. Single-port surgeries and trans-umbilical surgeries are major advances over traditional laparoscopic procedures. They entail making three to six small key-hole incisions in the abdomen to perform major operations.

Cleveland Clinic physicians recently performed:

the first single-port, trans-umbilical live-donor nephrectomies in nine consecutive kidney donors for kidney transplantation
the first two robotic single-port surgeries for renal pelvic reconstruction/revision and surgical removal of all or part of the prostate gland
the first single-port transvesical simple prostatectomy for symptomatic large-volume hypertrophy in three patients

These new approaches potentially offer patients even faster recoveries, minimal to virtually non-visible scarring and less pain. And of course, speedier recoveries and shorter hospital stays lead to reduced costs.