By Matthew Brady 
King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre (KFSHRC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has achieved another world first by performing a non-identical, fully robotic liver transplant using a living donor left-lobe graft. The novel technique introduces the benefits of robotic transplant, that include increased precision, reduced recovery times, and fewer complications, to a broader segment of patients.
The procedure by the Saudi hospital follows a successful world-first fully robotic heart transplant performed on a 16 year old patient earlier this year, and was performed on two female patients: a 26-year-old with end-stage liver disease due to Autoimmune Hepatitis and a 48-year-old with Primary Biliary Cirrhosis.
KFSHRC’s medical team used the Da Vinci Xi robotic system to transplant left-lobe grafts from living donors into the right hepatic fossa of the patients. The technique improved blood flow with reduced strain on the patients and the donors. The precision of the robotic system enabled better surgical views and more practical implantation due to the confined intra-abdominal space. Both cases resulted in positive outcomes, with minimal blood loss and brief ICU stays of just 2-4 days.
The breakthrough use of robotics in ‘left-to-right’ liver transplants brings new hope to patients who were previously ineligible for transplantation due to anatomical challenges or other medical contraindications.
