Cleveland Clinic surgeons completed the health system's first robotic lung transplant in the United States in May 2026, a procedure performed on a man in his 70s with pulmonary fibrosis. The clinic is one of only a handful of centres worldwide offering this surgical approach and the first in Ohio to do so.
The single lung transplant was led by Gregory Jones, MD, a thoracic surgeon at Cleveland Clinic's Heart Vascular and Thoracic Institute, with Kenneth McCurry, MD, surgical director of lung transplantation, on the team. Unlike traditional lung transplants, which require dividing the breastbone or ribs and often cause significant pain, the robotic approach uses small incisions, robotic instruments and 3D visualisation, and is designed to reduce pain, shorten hospital stays and speed recovery. The patient was discharged and is recovering well.
Dr Jones called the milestone "an important step forward in how we approach lung transplantation," offering another option for patients who may benefit from minimally invasive surgery. Cleveland Clinic's Lung Transplant Program has performed more than 2,500 transplants since 1990, including 146 lung transplants in 2025, and a team at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi completed the enterprise's first robotic lung transplant — the first of its kind in the Gulf region — last year.