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Mayo Clinic is using new technology to help with diabetes-related kidney failure.
About 40 million people in the U.S. are living with diabetes. Most are able to manage the condition with medication and lifestyle changes.
But in some cases, diabetes, type 1 or type 2, can lead to more serious problems, including chronic kidney disease, even kidney failure, leaving patients with only one option – a pancreas-kidney transplant.
The transplant has been performed for decades. Now, surgeons at Mayo Clinic are performing the transplant robotically.
Steve Canzoneri shares his life-changing story of becoming Mayo's first patient to undergo a robotic pancreas-kidney transplant.
Watch: Mayo Clinic announces first robotic pancreas-kidney transplant
Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (2:45) is in the downloads at the end of this post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.
Steve has battled diabetes most of his life. Despite treatment, diabetes still took a toll on his body and over time led to kidney failure.
"I've had some major setbacks with diabetic complications and other things like that," says Steve.
Diabetes is a disease where the body cannot properly control blood sugar levels. In most cases, the pancreas doesn't make enough insulin or the body can't use it effectively. This can damage organs, especially the kidneys, leaving some patients like Steve in need of a pancreas-kidney transplant.
Steve got the transplant he needed at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. He also became Mayo's first patient to undergo the procedure robotically.
"Traditionally, this operation involves a very big incision, but with the minimally invasive approach, we're able to offer patients a smaller incision," says transplant surgeon Michelle Nguyen, M.D. "That potentially allows the patient to recover faster, have less pain, have less risk of wound complications and just be able to return to their normal life more quickly."
For the transplant, two surgeons sit at consoles guiding the robot with hand controls. The robot does not replace the surgeon – it enhances precision, accuracy and control.
"The robot is actually just a tool that we use in the operating room that improves our magnifications, allows us to do a minimally invasive approach," says transplant surgeon Nitin Katariya, M.D. "We are in control the whole time."
Goal of transplant
The transplant is more than just a treatment.
"For many of these patients on insulin, we can try to cure both issues: the kidney disease and what may have caused their kidney disease in the first place, their diabetes. And so we look at kidney-pancreas transplant together as a way to attack both problems and solve both problems," adds Dr. Katariya.
Steve's dad noticed an improvement right away.
"He said to me that I finally sound like his son again," says Steve.
Steve was discharged less than a week after his transplant.
"He’s recovering very smoothly. He is done with dialysis, his kidney function is pretty much normal now, he is off insulin," says Dr. Nguyen.
For Steve, that means a future free of limitations.
"To be able to live, and travel again, be able to live life, and having that renewed spirit of being able to just do whatever I want–whenever I want–and not be tied down somewhere," says Steve.
Not everyone is a candidate for the robotic pancreas-kidney transplant. Doctors recommend talking to your healthcare team to determine what options are best for you.
Related stories:
- Mayo Clinic surgeons perform first robotic-assisted kidney transplant in Minnesota
- How a pancreas transplant can cure diabetes
- Mayo Clinic Minute: Reasons to be a living kidney donor
- From donation to Kilimanjaro: Living kidney donor defies limits (VIDEO)
