Living donor nephrectomy: a 20-year experience.
OBJECTIVE
To review the selection criteria and perioperative morbidity in patients undergoing living-related donor nephrectomy.


METHODS
Retrospective chart review.


RESULTS
Six hundred eighty-one patients underwent living donor nephrectomy during a 20-year period without any mortality. The postoperative morbidity included pneumothorax requiring a chest tube in 7%, urinary tract infection in 5%, wound infection in 4%, and need for blood replacement in 0.3% of patients. Two patients had clinically apparent pulmonary emboli.


CONCLUSIONS
Living donor nephrectomy remains a valuable source of kidneys for transplantation but is not without risk. By using care in donor selection and surgical management, operative complications can be kept low.
Department of Surgery, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison.
M J
MJ
Waples
F O
FO
Belzer
D T
DT
Uehling
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009392:Nephrectomy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014019:Tissue Donors