Dr. Eugene A. Grossi monitors the position of instruments as he makes adjustments during the robotic double lung transplant surgery. | Source: NYU Langone Health
A surgical team at NYU Langone Health has performed a fully robotic double lung transplant using a da Vinci Xi robot from Intuitive Surgical. The organization said the procedure marks a breakthrough in the potential of robotic surgery and minimally invasive patient care.
Stephanie H. Chang, M.D., led the minimally invasive procedure. Her team transplanted both lungs into a 57-year-old woman with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) using the da Vinci Xi robotic system at each stage.
“It is one of the greatest privileges to be able to help patients return to a healthy quality of life,” said Dr. Chang. “By using these robotic systems, we aim to reduce the impact this major surgery has on patients, limit their postoperative pain, and give them the best possible outcome. It couldn’t happen here without a talented group of surgeons and an institution dedicated to moving transplantation forward.”
She is associate professor in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and surgical director of the Lung Transplant Program for the NYU Langone Transplant Institute.
The transplant was performed on Oct. 22. This was just four days after patient Cheryl Mehrkar was added to the lung transplant list following several months of evaluation by Jake G. Natalini, M.D., assistant professor in the NYU Department of Medicine’s Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, and Luis F. Angel, M.D., medical director of lung transplantation for the NYU Langone Transplant Institute.
Mehrkar, who inherited a genetic predisposition to lung disease, was diagnosed with COPD in 2010 at 43 years old. Her condition worsened after a bout with COVID-19 in 2022.
The team started the procedure by making small incisions between the ribs. They then used Intuitive Surgical’s robotic system to remove the lung, prepare the surgical site for implantation, and implant the new lung. Both lungs were transplanted using these robotic techniques.
Dr. Chang was assisted by Travis C. Geraci, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, and Eugene A. Grossi, M.D., the Stephen B. Colvin, M.D., Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at New York University.
“I’m so grateful to the donor and their family for giving me another chance at life,” said Mehrkar. “For a long time, I was told I wasn’t sick enough for a transplant. The team at NYU Langone Health centered my quality of life as a priority, and I’m so grateful to the doctors and nurses here for giving me hope.”
Just a month earlier, NYU Langone claimed that Dr. Chang had performed the first fully robotic single lung transplant in the nation. “Now her team is the global leader in lung transplantation surgery,” it said.
“This latest breakthrough in robotic surgery speaks to the culture of innovation we’ve built by bringing the most talented people in their fields together,” stated Robert Montgomery, M.D., D.Phil., the H. Leon Pachter, MD, professor of surgery, chair of the Department of Surgery, and director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute. “Our Transplant Institute team pushes the field forward to better serve our patients and deliver the lifesaving care they need with the best patient experience.”
The NYU Langone Transplant Institute performed 76 lung transplants in 2023. It was rated best in the nation for lung survival after transplant and for getting patients off the waitlist the fastest by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. This is a national quality tracker overseen by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
NYU Langone Health is an integrated academic medical center. It offers a range of medical services across six inpatient locations, its Perlmutter Cancer Center, and more than 300 outpatient locations across the New York area and Florida. With $14 billion in revenue this year, the system also includes two medical schools, in Manhattan and on Long Island.
The institute said its surgeons perform more than 2,000 robot-assisted surgeries each year. It trains surgeons from hospitals from around the world to perform the latest robot-assisted cardiac, bariatric, thoracic, gynecologic, colorectal, urologic, and gastrointestinal procedures.
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Intuitive Surgical said the da Vinci Xi offers advanced instrumentation and vision. The system also includes features such as Firefly fluorescence imaging and integrated table motion.
The da Vinci Xi is standardized, helping to manage inventory and improve overall operating room efficiency, asserted the company.
Designed to provide flexibility for procedures performed across multiple specialties, the da Vinci Xi surgical system offers broader anatomical access, enhanced ease of use, and integrated technology. This fourth-generation system includes the same advanced 3DHD vision and wristed instruments in other da Vinci systems in a modular, adaptable format, Intuitive Surgical said.
The boom-mounted architecture of the da Vinci Xi patient cart allows for accurate deployment, it added. Guided setup has a clear and easy-to-learn user interface, with both visual and audible cues, according to Intuitive.
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