When Glenn Gundy sought emergency care for abdominal pain, he never imagined he would receive an unrelated diagnosis of kidney cancer. “This is often how smaller tumors are found,” said Zachary Mucher, MD, a Memorial Hermann affiliated urologist who sees patients in Sugar Land and Wharton. Gundy met Dr. Mucher, the on-call urologist at Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital, named one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals™ in 2014 by Truven Health. “Dr. Mucher informed me that the CT scan and ultrasound showed a tumor on my left kidney and asked if I wanted to see the images,” said the 57 year-old Fluor employee.
Gundy soon learned he was a candidate for a partial kidney removal. “Mr. Gundy was a good candidate for robotic partial nephrectomy because of the size and location of his tumor,” explained Dr. Mucher. After his hospital discharge, Gundy researched the procedure and local urologists. He kept coming back to Dr. Mucher. “There was something about him, his bedside manner, his level of confidence and assuredness, that seemed right for me and my family,” said Gundy. Two weeks later, Gundy underwent the surgery and a two-night hospital stay. “Two weeks after the surgery, I was walking a mile a day,” said Gundy.
“This robotic procedure was perfect for Mr. Gundy’s condition,” said Dr. Mucher. “The 360-degree wrist motion provided by the da Vinci® robot allows me to suture more quickly. This is important because it minimizes the time you clamp off blood flow to the kidney, helping to preserve kidney function.”
For more information, visit www.memorialhermann.org.