Dr. Umesh Jain, Chief of Urology, holding the Karl Storz Kidney Clamp™.

A urologist at St. Joseph's brought a new first to Toronto's West End community teaching hospital by using a special technique to successfully remove a tumor from patients with kidney cancer.

Dr. Umesh Jain, Chief of Urology, recently conducted this procedure, referred to as a partial nephrectomy, on two patients using a device called the Karl Storz Kidney Clamp™. This device has been used by surgeons in Europe for laparoscopic (a minimally invasive approach to surgery that uses small incisions) partial nephrectomy.

"Normally when surgery is done to remove kidney tumors, many times you need to remove the (whole) kidney, rather then remove the tumor alone," explains Dr. Jain.

"Cutting off the blood supply to remove just the tumor itself can (pose the) risk (of) kidney damage. (Because) the patient's tumor was located on the upper-left part of the  single functioning kidney, the technique I used with the device was to 'clamp' the kidney just below the tumour (and not having to remove the whole kidney). By doing so, we didn't need to cut the oxygen and blood supply to the rest of the kidney, ensuring that the organ would function immediately once the surgery was complete."

This is the first time this technique with the Karl Storz Kidney Clamp™ has been used for open surgery at the Health Centre and in North America, explained Dr. Jain.

"The device is being used currently on a trial basis. We will be publishing this surgical technique to suggest that surgeons can use this device for open partial nephrectomy procedures on a patient-by-patient basis," said Dr. Jain

Dr. Jain explains that using this technique via open surgery has many benefits, including:

• Surgeons can save the kidney and cure the cancer using this method and it is an approach that is an ideal operation for certain stages of kidney cancer
• The technique reduces trauma to the whole kidney (i.e. reduces the risk of kidney damage)
• Blood supply to the kidney is not cut off since the technique 'clamps' only part of the kidney which contains the tumor, not the entire organ.
• It saves time in the operating room, since the surgical team does not have to 'cool' the kidney (without using this device, surgeons would need to 'cool' the organ before operating)
• It reduces the risk of bleeding for the patient
• The procedure would prevent temporary dialysis, especially in patients who only have one kidney with cancer

Click here to read our feature article on managing kidney disease.

Return to Features Main

Top of Page

Page last updated: April 30, 2010