Keck Medical Center of the University of Southern California (USC) is the first medical center in the world to use new robotic technology in an outpatient procedure for a kidney cancer patient.

The 62-year-old patient, Gary Fradkin, went home the same day, three to four days less than patients typically experience with kidney cancer surgery.

Urologic surgeons at the USC Institute of Urology, part of Keck Medicine of USC, used a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-cleared laparoscopic device, the high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) surgical ablation system for ablating intra-abdominal tumors. The system enables surgeons to penetrate the abdominal cavity with keyhole cuts to eliminate tumors of four centimeters or less.

(READ more of the story from Keck Medicine)

Photo from Keck Medical Center, surgeon Inderbir Gill, M.D