Team of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ender Özden, Prof. Dr. Yarkın Kamil Yakupoğlu, Prof. Dr. Şaban Sarıkaya and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Handan Çelik transplanted a donated kidney by vaginal insertion without making an incision on the anterior abdominal wall on a female patient (40) who’s been on hemodialysis therapy for 4 years.

OMU Faculty of Medicine Department of Urology M.D. Prof. Dr. Yarkın Kamil Yakupoğlu said: ‘’Recently, surgical treatments of many diseases are done by procedures called minimal invasive surgical techniques. In these techniques, small incisions (0,5-1 cm) are made on the front wall of the abdomen, and the rest of the procedure is run by cameras and other hand-assisted devices. Thus, patients endure less pain, they can easier return to their lives, infection and wound risks are decreased and also better cosmetic appearance is achieved. Nowadays, kidney transplantation is the preferred treatment for patients with total kidney failure. Since the first successful kidney transplantation in 1954, developments in the field of immunosuppressive drugs, which help prevent kidney rejection, had a key role in this achievement. However, the execution of minimal invasive surgical methods on kidney transplantation patients has begun with laparoscopic kidney transplantation in 2009 followed by robotic surgical methods.’’

Prof. Dr. Yakupoğlu pointed out that the first laparoscopic kidney transplantation in Turkey was operated by OMU Department of Urology doctors in 2015 and continued “To this day, 14 cases of laparoscopic kidney transplantation has been made with a high rates of success. On our 15th patient, the donated kidney was inserted through the vagina without any incision on the front abdominal wall. The kidney started functioning right after the operation and the patient was ready for discharge after an issueless stay.’’

Team leader of the operation, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ender Özden stated “An appropriate method to prevent operational wound problems observed in many kidney transplantation patients, laparoscopic kidney transplantations can be realized by highly experienced teams of surgeons in both laparoscopic surgery and kidney transplantation surgery.”