The Local Health Unit (ULS) São José announced, on Monday, the completion of the first fully robotic living donor liver transplant in Portugal, performed at Curry Cabral Hospital in Lisbon. This marked only the second occurrence of such a transplant in Europe. What was involved in this procedure?
In this inaugural transplant, a 38-year-old daughter donated part of her liver to her 65-year-old mother.
The liver transplant, conducted on July 4 at the Hepatobiliopancreatic and Transplantation Center of ULS São José, utilized two surgical robots simultaneously, as explained by the institution.
“While one team used a robot to extract part of the liver from the donor, operating through small incisions,” another team “used a second robot to remove the mother’s liver, subsequently implanting the partial donated organ through the same method.”
Both the donor and the recipient, who suffered from chronic liver disease with an oncological condition, “recovered without issues.”
Second Fully Robotic Living Donor Liver Transplant in Europe
This procedure marked the second instance of a fully robotic living donor liver transplant in Europe. “The first instance in Modena, Italy, used only one robot, hence the donation and transplant procedures were conducted sequentially rather than simultaneously as at ULS São José.”
“Robotics offers significant advantages in organ donation, providing safety and the potential for faster recovery. Robotic transplants have shown promising results for the same reasons, and Portugal is among the pioneering countries in this technique,” stated Hugo Pinto Marques, director of the Hepatobiliopancreatic and Transplantation Center.
“This is yet another excellent example of our commitment to innovation, particularly in robotics, allowing the National Health Service to remain at the forefront of international healthcare. It is also a way to attract and retain healthcare professionals within the NHS,” emphasized Rosa Valente de Matos, president of the Board of Directors at ULS São José.
Notably, ULS São José had already performed, in October 2024, the first living donor liver transplant in Portugal using this technology, but robotics was then used only for organ extraction.
Robotic surgery within the National Health Service commenced at the end of 2019 at the then Central Lisbon University Hospital Center (CHULC), and subsequently, a second system was acquired, enabling ULS São José to pioneer the establishment of a Robotics Surgery Center.
