UK HealthCare first in Kentucky to conduct high-tech procedure

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - For the first time in Kentucky, a robot is being used to extract a kidney from a donor to a recipient.

Dr. Alejadro Cracco has performed more than a dozen robotic-assisted donor nephrectomies at another facility in Chicago before coming to UK.

We asked Dr. Cracco if there were any concerns he’s come across using this new technology, and he said there are “no red flags or concerns we can identify at this moment.”

We are told patients who receive this type of robotic assistance have fewer incisions, less post-op pain and a reduced risk of complications—welcome news for patients using this method to get a new kidney.

UK and the University of Louisville are also competing in the Gift of Life Challenge to raise awareness for organ donors.

“So you can currently register, and you can help out in that competition if you’d like and help become the second chance of life for someone waiting,” said UK HealthCare Transplant Outreach Manager Elizabeth Powell.

UK HealthCare says the hospital has conducted more than 200 organ transplants so far this year and a total of 6,000 transplants since 1964.

Click here for more information on how you can sign up for the Gift of Live Challenge.

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