Robotic ultrasound ‘can aid treatment of kidney cancers’

A US research team have carried out a study that demonstrates the benefits that robotic ultrasound techniques can offer in the treatment of kidney cancers.

The use of ultrasound to identify tumours during kidney cancer surgery is becoming increasingly widespread, but the Henry Ford Hospital team developed the concept further by using a robotic ultrasound probe.

According to data drawn from 75 robotic partial nephrectomy procedures, robotically-controlled probes deliver comparable benefits to traditional laparoscopic techniques, with the added advantage of increased control.

Doctors no longer needed to rely on an assistant for part of the task and could manipulate the probe more easily, without needing to move the kidney itself as frequently.

Senior author Dr Craig Rogers, a urologist at Henry Ford Hospital's Vattikuti Urology Institute, said: "While our study showed comparable results from both methods of mapping and measuring kidney cancers, the robotic ultrasound probe enables the precision of a robotic instrument as well as direct surgeon control."

Kidney cancer is the eighth most common cancer in adults in the UK, with around 9,300 people being diagnosed with the condition annually.