NIMS surgeons perform Robotic Kidney Transplant surgery

The patient, hailing from Nalgonda, had undergone a living-related kidney transplant in 2017 but was struggling due to chronic rejection. This time around, he received a cadaveric kidney from brain dead individual, making the surgery particularly complex due to previous surgery

Hyderabad: The urologists and organ transplant team at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) on Tuesday announced that they have successfully performed the institute’s first-ever robotic kidney transplant on a 33-year-old man, who was suffering from end-stage kidney disease due to rejection from an earlier living-related kidney transplant.

The patient, hailing from Nalgonda, had undergone a living-related kidney transplant in 2017 but was struggling due to chronic rejection. This time around, he received a cadaveric kidney from brain dead individual, making the surgery particularly complex due to previous surgery.

---

Despite the challenges, the surgery was carried out without any complications, and the newly transplanted kidney functioned immediately, producing good urine output as soon as it was connected, signaling a successful graft and a smooth recovery, NIMS hospital doctors on Tuesday said.

The Urology and Renal Transplantation wing of NIMS, in the past 2.5 months of this year, has already conducted 41 renal transplants, taking its total count close to 2,000. The transplant surgeries are in addition to 11,000 other urological surgeries that are performed annually by the department.

Professor Dr Rahul Devraj, Urologist and transplant surgeon, maintained that such a kidney surgery was the first of its kind in a government hospital in South India.

The procedure was performed free of cost under the Telangana Aarogyasri Health Scheme. Additionally, the patient will benefit from free access to immunosuppressive drugs, essential for long-term graft survival, further easing the financial burden of post-transplant care.

The transplant surgery was led by Professor Dr Rahul Devraj, along with Senior Professor and HOD Dr Ram Reddy and Assistant Professor Dr Dheeraj SSS, who were instrumental in executing the complex surgery. They were supported by a senior team of urologists, anesthesia specialists and nephrologists. NIMS Director Dr Beerappa congratulated the urology team for successfully conducting the unique surgery.