title: Donor nephrectomy in the era of hand-assisted laparoscopic urologic surgery.
abstract: Living-donor nephrectomy has traditionally been performed through a flank incision with or without rib resection or by an anterior extraperitoneal incision, both of which reduce the willingness of potential donors to undergo the procedure. The first successful human laparoscopic donor nephrectomy was reported in 1995. In order to reduce warm ischemia and operative time and to make the operation safer and easier, some laparoscopic surgeons have used hand assistance. The authors describe their technique for this operation and review the results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Tulane University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
authors.forename: Freddy R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Mendez-Torres
authors.forename: Ruben
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Urena
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Slakey
authors.forename: Raju
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Thomas
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D020706:Laparoscopes; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D009392:Nephrectomy / Q000379:methods*; D014019:Tissue Donors