Quality of life after laparoscopic donor nephrectomy

Distinct from cadaveric donor renal transplantation, living donor renal transplantation has many benefits for the recipient, such as a shorter waiting time as well as longer patient and graft survivals. But, there is no potential physical benefit for the donors. Many studies have shown that laparoscopic donor nephrectomy (LDN) resulted in a lower complication rate and shorter hospital stay compared with an open donor nephrectomy. The present study was performed to analyze the quality of life (QoL) among patients who underwent LDN.

From November 2005 to December 2008, 14 patients who underwent LDN were enrolled in this study. We assessed the QoL of these patients before versus 3 months after the operation using the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), which were expressed as a Physical Component Summary and a Mental Component Summary. We analyzed the association between QoL and donor age, gender, relationship to the recipient, and renal function.

The Physical Component Summaries showed a significant decrease from the values before kidney donation (92.9+/-5.0) to 3 months thereafter (80.4+/-16.6; P=.004). In addition, the Mental Component Summaries were also significantly decreased from 84.2+/-10.2 to 76.8+/-19.2 (P=.012). However, the changes of QoL were not significantly associated with donor age, gender, relationship to the recipient, or renal function after kidney donation.

This study revealed that kidney donation had negative impacts on donor QoL after LDN although renal function was well preserved. The QoL of a potential living donor must be evaluated carefully before transplantation.