Consultant performs his 300th kidney laparoscopy

Consultant Mark Woodward (L), with Parker, and parents Sophie and Matthew

A consultant has performed the 300th operation involving a less invasive surgery which he introduced to his NHS trust.

Parker, aged two, underwent a laparoscopic kidney surgery procedure - which involves keyhole surgery - at Bristol Royal Hospital for children.

Paediatric urology consultant, Mark Woodward, treated Parker using the procedure he first introduced to the trust that runs the hospital in 2005.

Parker is recovering and "getting back to normal", his mother said.

Parker, from West Wick in Somerset, was taken ill when his kidney became swollen.

He was diagnosed with an obstruction which was stopping urine draining from his kidney into the bladder as quickly as it should.

The surgery, which took place in early October, was the only way to remove the obstruction, which could have led to loss of kidney function if left untreated.

'Emotional time'

The "intricate" keyhole procedure takes about two hours and 10 minutes to perform, compared to four hours and 20 minutes when it was first introduced in 2005.

Mr Woodward said: “Perhaps surprisingly, removing the whole kidney is the simplest laparoscopic kidney operation, whereas the surgery Parker needed is the trickiest.

"Removing an obstruction involves quite fiddly sewing, but you do get quicker with experience."

Sophie, Parker's mother, said: “It was a really emotional time, but Mark was really reassuring.

"Parker had never even been under anaesthetic before, but Mark made us feel OK with the surgery."

In the 19 years since the operation was introduced to the University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust in 2005, the department has expanded to include three more paediatric urologists.

Between them they have performed more than 500 laparoscopic kidney surgeries at the children's hospital.