AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) – Patients with a high body mass index and who are in desperate need of a kidney transplant have one less hurdle to worry about. UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital on the Anschutz Medical Campus completed two successful robotic transplants. Both patients had BMIs over 40.
Obesity has grown to affect 40% of the U.S. population and impacts almost 60% of patients who need a kidney transplant. This is according to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).
(Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
A high BMI has become an interference. It puts those patients in a high risk category because there may have increased complications from surgery. Patients also usually have other conditions like diabetes, hypertension, arthritis and sleep apnea.
“It’s virtually impossible to ask a patient to lose 50 pounds when they’re tethered to a dialysis machine three times per week,” said Dr. Thomas Pshak, a surgeon with the UCHealth Transplant Center and the lead on the robotic kidney transplant team.
He says that traditional transplant surgery is difficult because the doctor can’t always see the vessels that ensure the kidney is in its proper place. He adds robotics’ vision is ten times better, making high BMIs a non-issue.
A Centennial resident with a BMI over 40 was initially turned down for transplant surgery. He was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease as a child and it had progressed to the point where he needed dialysis to help support his failing kidneys. He had the robotic surgery in November and made a strong recovery. Doctors performed a second robotic surgery a month later with similar results.
“I want to help patients who have been told they are not surgical candidates have an opportunity to live a longer, better life,” Pshak said.
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