In October, a surgical team at NYU Langone Health performed a fully robotic double lung transplant, marking another global first at the New York City-based health system.
Five notes:
- Cheryl Mehrkar, a 57-year-old woman who was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 2010, underwent the minimally invasive procedure in October. The transplant was performed four days after she was placed on the lung transplant list, according to a Nov. 21 news release.
- The breakthrough procedure was performed with the Da Vinci Xi robotic system and was led by Stephanie Chang, MD, surgical director of NYU Langone's Lung Transplant Program.
"We used very small incisions on both sides and then with a robot, we took the old lung out, prepared the heart and the airway for us to sew in the new lung, and then put the new lung in," Dr. Chang said, adding the process was followed for both lungs.
- NYU Langone is home to many breakthroughs in transplant procedures. A month before performing the robotic double lung transplant, Dr. Chang and team also completed the nation's first single robotic lung transplant. Over the past few years, several other first-of-a-kind transplant procedures have been completed at the health system, including the world's first whole-eye and partial face transplant.
- Leaders at the health system described the procedure as a "watershed moment in lung transplantation surgery," paving the way for a broader patient population to benefit from minimally invasive surgical advancements.
- In an interview with Becker's last month, Robert Montgomery, MD, PhD, director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute, credited the surgical team's pioneering work in transplantation to the health system's culture and unique institutional structure.