Laparoscopic nephropexy: long-term follow-up--Washington University experience

Recently, laparoscopy has been reported as a minimally invasive approach for performing nephropexy in patients with symptomatic nephroptosis. Herein, we report our long-term follow-up of patients undergoing laparoscopic nephropexy for this indication.

Fourteen women presenting with right flank pain and radiologically documented nephroptosis underwent transperitoneal laparoscopic nephropexy. The hospital data were evaluated for operative time, time to oral intake, time to ambulation, amount of parenteral analgesics, and hospital stay. Pain analog scores and postoperative questionnaires were used to assess the long-term postoperative recovery of the patients.

The average operative time was 4.1 hours (range 2.5-6.5 hours). The patients resumed oral intake an average of 16.5 hours (range 15-48 hours) postoperatively. Analgesic requirements averaged 37 mg of morphine sulfate equivalent (range 15-80 mg of morphine equivalent). The average hospital stay was 2.6 days (range 2-5 days). The average follow-up time for the 14 patients was 3.3 years, with an average 80% improvement in their pain (range 56%-100%). On average, the patients resumed their usual activities 6 weeks postoperatively (range 1-12 weeks).

Nephropexy can be safely and effectively accomplished laparoscopically, with durable radiographic and clinical resolution of the signs and symptoms.