Barcelona hospital performs Europe’s first single-incision pediatric surgery

The Pediatric Urology and Renal Transplantation team at Vall d'Hebron Hospital in Barcelona has performed the first pediatric surgery in Europe with a single-port surgical robot, which operates through a single incision. 

A ureteronephrectomy was performed on a 12-year-old boy who had a kidney and his ureter removed at the beginning of June after an infection caused by the deposit of multiple stones, some the size of a cherry, left the organ non-functional. 

At a press conference this Friday, the doctor and manager of the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital, Albert Salazar, stated that the new system provides "much more safety and fewer complications." 

The SHURUI robot will allow between 250-300 more operations to be performed per year.

The incisions are about 2.5cm, although the size could be reduced even further in the coming months. 

At the moment, the robot has already performed 4 operations with pediatric surgery, and more are scheduled for the coming months, also for general surgery and urology.