title: Comparison of Minimal Skin Incision Technique in Living Kidney Transplantation and Conventional Kidney Transplantation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recently, the most common incision for kidney transplantation (KT) is an inverted J-shaped incision known as the "hockey-stick." However, demands for minimally invasive surgery in KT are increasing as in other various fields of surgery. Hence, we evaluated whether there is difference between minimal skin incision technique in kidney transplantation (MIKT) and conventional KT (CKT) .
  
  
  METHODS
  Between June 2006 and March 2013, a total of 452 living kidney transplant patients were enrolled. The MIKT group included 17 young unmarried women whose body mass index was <25 kg/m2 and had no anatomic variation. The CKT group included 435 patients. The MIKT operation technique restricted to the 10 cm-sized skin incision in the lower right abdomen from laterally below the anterior superior iliac spine to the midline just above the pubis was performed. We compared the baseline clinical characteristics and postoperative results between two groups. For proper comparison, propensity score matching was implemented.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no difference in graft function, survival, and postoperative complication rate between MIKT and CKT groups (all P > 0.05). The 5-year graft survival was 92.3% and 85.7% in MIKT and CKT groups, respectively (P = 0.786).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results indicated that MIKT showed more favorable cosmetic results, and there were no statistical differences in various postoperative factors including graft function, survival, and complications compared with CKT. Hence, we suggested that MIKT is an appropriate method for selected patients in living KT.
authors.forename: Sang-Dong
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Ji-Il
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: In-Sung
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Moon
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Division of Vascular and Transplant Surgery, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 137-040, Korea.
authors.forename: Sun-Cheol
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods* / Q000401:mortality; D019520:Living Donors; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D057216:Propensity Score; D012189:Retrospective Studies