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We report a rare case of a da Vinci robotic arm failure during a laparoscopic robot-assisted radical prostatectomy. The articulation joint of an Endowrist needle driver was broken and positioned at such an angle that made it impossible to remove through the trocar. In addition, it was later discovered that a small piece of the instrument was detached and remained inside the abdomen of the patient without even having been identified on subsequent radiological evaluation. In order to remove the broken instrument, we had to uninstall it from the robot arm and a bigger incision had to be made in the abdominal wall of the patient. The operation was completed without any other incidents. Testing the broken instrument for integrity is recommended to avoid this rare complication.

The objective of this study is to describe our technique and results of the enucleoresection technique in robot-assisted partial nephrectomy. The patient is positioned in full flank position. Three robotic arms of a da Vinci system and an assistant's port are used. The renal hilus is freed, the kidney mobilized and the site of the partial excision prepared. The vessels are clamped with a bulldog. The capsula of the kidney is incised circular about 5 mm around the tumor. A pseudocapsula of compressed healthy tissue around the tumor is found and mainly blunt dissection is done with the cold scissors. At the base of the dissection, the resection is completed sharply. Possible calyceal defects and major vessels are stitched. Fibrinogen coagulation enhancer and cellulose coagulation sponge are used to lessen the gap and the renal defect is closed with absorbable suture. The kidney is re-perfused and observed for bleeding. We have performed 17 cases with warm ischemia time 16-35 min (mean 24 min) and tumor size 2.2-5.3 cm (mean 3.8 cm). All surgical margins were tumor free. No postoperative complications were identified except one clot retention. Robot-assisted enucleoresection of kidney tumors is a feasible and very promising technique that needs to be further evaluated for results.

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