VCU Health performs nation’s first fully robotic living donor liver transplant

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- In a groundbreaking advancement for transplant medicine, the VCU Health Hume-Lee Transplant Center has become the first medical institution in the United States to perform a fully robotic living donor liver transplant.

This milestone procedure involved removing part of a healthy liver from a living donor and transplanting it into a patient with liver failure—entirely with the assistance of robotic technology.

Led by Dr. Seung Duk Lee, interim surgical director of liver transplant at VCU Health, the surgery marks a new era in minimally invasive transplant procedures. Traditionally, liver transplants require large incisions and substantial manual manipulation, but this robotic approach significantly reduces trauma and speeds up recovery.

“Until now, robotic surgery was limited to the donor side,” Dr. Lee said. “We have opened the door to a new era of minimally invasive surgery.”

The team used the da Vinci 5 surgical robot, a state-of-the-art system that provides 10 times magnification compared to the human eye. The enhanced visualization and precision allow surgeons to make smaller incisions, resulting in less pain and faster recovery for both donors and recipients.

“The robotic surgery allows them to go home very fast—much faster than with open surgery—and they can return to normal life much quicker,” Dr. Lee said.

Living donor liver transplants already offer benefits over traditional transplants, but robotic assistance takes those advantages further by reducing complications and improving outcomes.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 4.5 million Americans live with liver disease, and the transplant waitlist continues to grow. Innovations like this one could help save more lives and make living donation a more appealing and less daunting option.

“We can expect increased safety and better outcomes for transplant care,” Dr. Lee said. “It may also encourage more people to consider living donation, knowing that the surgeries can now be done with greater precision and less trauma.”

As robotic technology continues to evolve, Dr. Lee hopes this landmark surgery will pave the way for transplant centers nationwide to adopt similar techniques, bringing the future of surgery one step closer to the present.