Retroperitoneal laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy: report of 105 cases

Retroperitoneal laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy offers an intrinsic advantage over conventional transperitoneal laparoscopic nephrectomy because of the potentially lower risk for early and late donor intraperitoneal complications. Herein we presented our experience performing retroperitoneal laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy in 105 donors. All donor nephrectomy was successful. There were no donor deaths and no conversion to open surgery. Mean operation time was 112 min (range, 70-200 min). Intraoperative blood loss was 10-150 mL with an average of 30 mL. Warm ischemia time was 1.3 to 6 min with an average of 3.1 min. Postoperative retroperitoneal hematoma occurred in only one case and there were no other surgical complications. Donors were discharged from the hospital 5 to 10 days postoperation. Average postoperative hospital stay was 6.4 days. One graft was removed due to acute rejection. Delayed graft function occurred in two recipients but renal function returned to normal within four weeks. The other recipients had normal renal function in two weeks except three recipients in four weeks. We believe that retroperitoneal laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy is safe, reliable, and less invasive.