[The value of laparoscopic kidney surgery in urology]

Since the first laparoscopic nephrectomy in 1990, most ablative and reconstructive urological kidney surgery has been attempted laparoscopically. The advantages of this method were first demonstrated for benign diseases, with less postoperative pain, shorter hospitalization, faster convalescence and, for the objective evaluation of these findings, with lower serum levels of interleukins and acute phase proteins, and without disadvantages in therapy efficiency. Over the last few years, sufficient data have been published to show the oncological outcome for patients with kidney cancer. For laparoscopic radical nephrectomy, and recently also for partial nephrectomy, oncological equality with open procedures could be demonstrated, with all of the benefits of minimally invasive techniques. The use of laparoscopy was one of the most important steps in the progress of medicine in the 20th century. Our aims include the further improvement of this technique and its distribution to surgical centers.