The Hospital Clinic of Barcelona becomes a world pioneer with an innovative kidney extraction procedure

Barcelona (CNA) .- The Hospital Clinic of Barcelona has pioneered a technically advanced medical procedure to extract a living donor kidney through the vagina. The surgery, called transvaginal nephrectomy, leaves minimal scars of 5 and 10 millimetres in the abdomen through which surgical tools are introduced. The technique is minimally invasive and involves little scarring, a shorter hospital stay and less pain for the donor. The procedure is being adopted by medical teams in the United States, Argentina and Italy. The operation on men, which is done through the navel, is also performed at the Clinic, although it is a technique imported from the United States.

The Hospital Clinic of Barcelona has performed 32 innovative kidney withdrawals making it a world pioneer within the medical community. The surgery is based on removing the kidney of a living donor through the vagina with two minimal incisions of between 5 and 10 millimeters in the abdomen, through which the surgical tools are placed. The technique is already being introduced by other medical teams from the USA, Argentina and Italy. "This technique could increase the rate of survival amongst female donors" said Dr. Alcaraz, head of Urology in the Clinic. The operation is minimally invasive, causes little scarring, a shorter hospital and less pain for the donor. The extraction technique which is formally called transvaginal nephrectomy, (although it is often shortened to the acronym NOTES for, natural orifice transluminal Endoscopy Surgery) refers to surgical procedures which are made through natural orifices of the body. In men, the same operation is performed through the navel (transumbilical nephrectomy). This technique has been imported from the United States and the Clinic has performed five such surgeries. Interestingly, the recovery period for men is faster than for women "because the operation is less aggressive and less need soothing," said Dr. Alcaraz. The doctor added however, that two thirds of live donors are women. Dr. Alcaraz said "this type of procedure poses no risk to women who want to have a baby naturally" because, he added "the vagina can be widened to expose a body of 600 cubic centimetres". Concepció Jiménez decided to undergo an operation using this method to give her kidney to her husband. "It was fine, I took paracetamol and I left the next day" she said. Xavier Permanyer, a male donor, has already fully recovered. "I did not notice anything, I had no trouble in two days and was quickly back at home," said the patient, who gave his kidney to a child suffering from defect kidney since birth and had already undergone three transplants. The medical team requests certain requirements before this type of operation. First and foremost, as prescribed by Dr. Alcazar, is that the donor does not have a Body Mass Index (BMI) greater than 30. In the case of women it is also necessary that the vagina is not too narrow, "which occurs in very old people." In addition, women who have had children through the birth canal are easier to perform this type of intervention on and are thus the preferred patient. In Spain 10% of transplants are done through a living person, while in Catalonia, the figure reaches 25%. "The living donor is the best option, because the kidney is of a better quality," said Dr. Alcaraz. The pioneering technique on women was implemented at the Hospital in July 2009 and operations on men were imported a year later. A total of 37 operations have been performed at this hospital using a combination of these methods.