[Hand-assisted laparoscopy for kidney sampling in living donors: the surgical technique]

Hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery bridges the gap between open and Laparoscopic surgery. It involves introduction of the surgeon's hand into the insufflated abdomen. Hand-assisted laparoscopy is clearly advantageous for those laparoscopic procedures that require removal of relatively large amount of tissue intact as living donor nephrectomy is. Technically, a short midline incision is performed to introduce the non dominant operators'hand. Trocars are placed. The colon is then reflected, the ureter dissected with its surrounding vascularization and divided. The renal vein is controlled, by transecting the surrenal vein on the left side, and the genital vein in both sides. Then the artery is dissected close to the aorta on the Left side, behind the vena cava on the right side. An endoscopic stapler is used to transect the renal artery and the renal vein. The kidney is quickly removed through the midline incision and immediately washed with a cooled preservation solution. The different incisions are closed.