First UK child has kidney surgery with Versius robot at Southampton

In summer 2024, a seven-year-old boy from Gosport became the first child in the UK to undergo kidney surgery with the Versius robotic system. The operation took place at Southampton Children's Hospital and was carried out by consultant paediatric urologist Ewan Brownlee. It treated a narrowing where the kidney meets the ureter, the tube that carries urine to the bladder.

Versius, made by Cambridge-based CMR Surgical, had until then been used mainly on adults. Surgeons control slim, wrist-like instruments from a console, which allows smaller incisions. Those features made it a promising option for small patients, where space inside the body is limited.

The procedure was part of a clinical trial led by University Hospital Southampton and run at three UK sites, involving around 150 patients. Its results were intended to show surgeons when and how robotic surgery benefits children, compared with conventional keyhole surgery. The case marked an early step towards wider use of robots in paediatric surgery in the NHS, the UK's public health service.