TOTALLY LAPAROSCOPIC LIVING DONOR NEPHRECTOMY

Abstract

The laparoscopic approach for living donor nephrectomy has represented in recent years a paradigm with comparable and even better results to the open approach. Objective: To evaluate the laparoscopic approach in living donor nephrectomy as the procedure of choice in kidney transplantation. Methods: Between January and October 2010, 13 living kidney donor patients undergoing laparoscopic nephrectomy for kidney transplantation at the Dr. Miguel Pérez Carreño Hospital were prospectively evaluated. Results: The survival of the patients and the organ was 100 %, there was no need for conversion in any case. The mean age was 33.8 years, the mean surgical time was 187 minutes, the mean warm ischemia time was 4.31 minutes. Anatomical variants were found in 15.4% of the patients and in 23.1 % intraoperative complications were resolved without problems. The hospital stay was 3.6 ± 1.4 days. The average postoperative pain (VAS) was 5.9 on the first day, decreasing to 2.1 on the third day. Conclusions: Laparoscopic nephrectomy in living donors is a reproducible technique that requires adequate instruments and trained personnel and demonstrates its advantages in terms of decreased bleeding, postoperative pain, complications and hospital stay.