Intra- and postoperative complications of donor nephrectomies

Living-donor renal transplantation has become common worldwide. However, living-donor nephrectomy is not a complication-free procedure. This retrospective study reviews the intra-and postoperative risks and complications of donor nephrectomies at our institution between 1994 and 2002.

Two hundred fifty-seven consecutive donor nephrectomy patients were evaluated using medical records and anesthetic charts.

The mean age of living donors was 42 +/- 12 years: 19 were older than 61 years, and 143 (55.6%) were women. Anesthesia for donor nephrectomy included general anesthesia, combined spinal-epidural anesthesia (CSE), general + CSE, and general + epidural anesthesia. We observed 51 intra- and postoperative complications in 26 patients. The minor complication rate was 10.1%. The duration of surgery was 3.56 +/- 0.26 hours (range, 2 to 5 hours). Serum creatinine levels were increased significantly (P < .05) on postoperative days 1, 3, and 5 compared with the preoperative levels (P < .05). There was no mortality.

Like other surgical operations, living-donor nephrectomy is associated with intra- and postoperative complications. Although these complications are minor, maximal efforts must be applied in the anesthetic approach to minimize donor complications, and donors should be informed about potential risks.