Seoul hospital completes robotic liver transplant surgery

Seoul National University Hospital completed a liver transplant procedure using a robot and a laparoscope that left no huge abdominal scars for both the donor and recipient.

Suh Kyung-suk, a professor on the liver transplant team, noted that the new surgical procedure also reduces complications associated with the lungs and scars and shortens the recovery time.

The use of a robot and a laparoscope that allowed a transplant without opening the donor's abdomen was the world's first.

To extract the liver, the donor’s pubic bone area needed to be excised.

But the use of a robot and a laparoscope left only several tiny holes that were hidden by underwear.

The research results were published in the British Journal of Surgery and the American Journal of Transplantation.