Innovative Renal Cooling Device for Use in Minimally Invasive Surgery

Over 58,000 patients suffer from renal cell carcinoma annually in the United States. Treatment for this cancer often requires surgical removal of the cancerous tissue in a partial nephrectomy procedure. In open renal surgery, the kidney is placed on ice to increase allowable ischemia time; however, there is no widely accepted method for reducing kidney temperature during minimally invasive surgery. A novel device has been designed, prototyped, and evaluated to perform effective renal cooling during minimally invasive kidney surgery to reduce damage due to extended ischemia. The device is a fluid-containing bag with foldable cooling surfaces that wrap around the organ like a taco shell. It is deployed through a 12 mm trocar, wrapped around the kidney and secured using bulldog clamps. The device then fills with an ice slurry and remains on the kidney for up to 20 min. The ice slurry is then removed from the device and the device is retracted from the body. Tests of the prototype show that the device successfully cools porcine kidneys from $37°C$ to $20°C$ in 5 minutes.