title: Retroperitoneoscopic living donor nephrectomy: a retrospective comparison to the open approach.
abstract: A purely retroperitoneoscopic approach in living kidney donation is used by only a few centers worldwide. Data from 28 consecutive purely retroperitoneoscopic living donor nephrectomies (RLDN) were compared to the most recent 30 open living donor nephrectomies (OLDN). Right-sided donation was performed in 12 cases (43%) of the RLDN and 11 cases (37%) of the OLDN. Comparison of the results between the two groups showed a shorter operation time and hospital stay for the RLDN group (P < 0.001). Warm ischemia time was significantly shorter in the OLDN group (P < 0.02). The rate of complications did not differ significantly between the groups. No significant difference in terms of renal graft function was detected within 30 days after surgery. As a result of the direct access, RLDN is superior in terms of operation time, even to the open access on our series, while maintaining the advantage of minimal invasiveness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bachmann
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dickenmann
authors.forename: Lorenz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gürke
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Giannini
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Langer
authors.forename: Thomas C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Gasser
authors.forename: Jürg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Steiger
authors.forename: Tullio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sulser
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D020706:Laparoscopes; D019520:Living Donors; D009392:Nephrectomy / Q000379:methods*; D012187:Retroperitoneal Space / Q000601:surgery; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome