BALTIMORE -- Surgeons said they have successfully removed a donated kidney through a woman's belly button.
The University of Maryland Medical Center said the location of the incision means the 22-year-old Virginia woman who donated the kidney on April 15 will not have a scar from the surgery. The kidney was given to a 54-year-old Timonium woman.
Medical center officials said the hospital is the third in the country to offer the new procedure.
Dr. Benjamin Philosophe, the head of the medical center's transplant division, said the small incisions of the laparoscopic approach has been shown to reduce recovery time and the single incision bellybutton approach could be even better.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
