An Israeli hospital has performed the country’s first robotic-assisted lung transplant without fully opening the patient’s chest or spreading the ribs, in a procedure described as a major breakthrough in transplant surgery.
Surgeons at Clalit-Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva used the Da Vinci robotic system to connect a transplanted lung to the patient’s blood vessels and airways through several small incisions.
A Da Vinci surgical robot is pictured during the Italian Tech Week 2025 at OGR Officine Grandi Riparazioni, in Turin on October 3, 2025. (Photo by MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)AFP via Getty Images
The technique avoids conventional surgery, which involves cutting through the breastbone and opening the chest cavity. Around 20 such robotic transplants have been performed worldwide since the first one was carried out in Spain three years ago.
Doctors hope the minimally invasive approach will reduce postoperative pain, lower the risk of infections and shorten recovery times.
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