In a case of its own kind, doctors at a private hospital removed a big tumour located behind the right kidney through robotic surgery.

The doctors were called to the University of Illinois at Chicago, United States to make a presentation on the rare surgery.

“Usually tumours behind kidney, called retroperitoneal lump, get diagnosed by the time they are of the size of five or six cm. In the present case, tumour size of the lady had increased to 12.2 x 8.5 x 8.2 cm. We decided to perform robotic surgery instead of open surgery so that the patient can recover faster,” said Dr Parveen Bhatia, one of the treating surgeons and head of Institute of Minimal Access, Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

It was for the past two years that the 45-year-old woman had been complaining of heaviness in the right side of abdomen and other conditions in the right leg.
By the time the family geared up to take her to hospital and get her tested, her condition had become acute.

A C T Scan and an MRI showed a rounded lump behind the right kidney, displacing location of other organs.

“Mostly, the doctors go for open surgery in such cases. But with latest technology available in the form of robot, we decided to use it to give a smaller incision,” said Dr Bhatia.

By open surgery, the incision on the body would have been of 20 inches. But with this, one incision of 12 mm, and two of 8 mm each were needed.

“The patient was discharged in two days. Open surgery would have taken many months before she could even walk,” said Dr Bhatia.

Dr Bhatia and Dr Vivek Bindal, other treating surgeon, were called to the University of Illinois to present a paper on the rare surgery.

It also appears on the website of Clinical Robotic Surgery Association, a leading body in the field.