Pediatric robotic pyeloplasty in patients weighing less than 10 kg initial experience.
OBJECTIVE
To report the feasibility and safety of a robotic-assisted laparoscopic pyeloplasty (RALP) in patients weighing <10 kg.


METHODS
Three patients weighing between 5 and 8 kg who were affected by severe congenital ureteropelvic junction obstruction, including a child with solitary kidney, were subjected to RALP. Three trocars were placed; sutures and pyeloplasty remodeling were performed with interrupted stitches. A double J stent was inserted through a 2-mm transparietal angiocatheter to protect the pyelic suture.


RESULTS
The procedures were all completed within 90 minutes, the "docking" time requiring 20 minutes. The patients were discharged on postoperative day 2, without any complications.


CONCLUSIONS
Comprehensive assessment of pyelic suture in a very narrow field with 2 operative instruments is feasible and safe. Robotic pyeloplasty provides all the advantages of mini-invasive surgery with the added advantage of higher magnification and excellent surgical navigation in very small spaces and on fragile infant tissues.
Departments of *Pediatric Surgery †Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care ‡Pediatrics, IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo Foundation, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
Gloria
G
Pelizzo
Ghassan
G
Nakib
Ilaria
I
Goruppi
Luigi
L
Avolio
Piero
P
Romano
Alessandro
A
Raffaele
Federico
F
Scorletti
Simonetta
S
Mencherini
Valeria
V
Calcaterra
D001835:Body Weight; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006801:Humans; D006869:Hydronephrosis / Q000151:congenital / Q000601:surgery*; D007223:Infant; D007668:Kidney / Q000002:abnormalities*; D010535:Laparoscopy; D008297:Male; D012371:Robotics; D014517:Ureteral Obstruction / Q000151:congenital* / Q000601:surgery*