Hand-assisted laparoscopic living donor nephrectomy: initial Glasgow experience

The study presents the early results of hand-assisted laparoscopic living donor nephrectomy (HALDN) carried out in West of Scotland from June 2009 to October 2010.

The first 20 HALDN procedures carried out in our unit are presented. The outcomes reported are warm ischaemia time, operative time, delayed graft function, recipient renal function and one-month morbidity and mortality of donor and recipient. SPSS 15.0 was used for statistical analysis.

The mean age of the donors was 44 ± 10 years, predominantly females (n = 13), median operative time 135 ± 33 min and warm ischaemia time 41 ± 16 s. The length of the incision used was 65 mm in all cases. Duration of hospital stay was 5 ± 1 days. Patient mortality was 0 and morbidity minimal with two donors developing minor wound infection and no other clinically significant postoperative morbidity. Among the recipients, 18/20 (90%) transplants worked primarily with two delayed graft functions, one due to early surgical complications in a small paediatric recipient and one due to recipient renal artery thrombosis.

HALDN is safe and associated with minimal morbidity; further analysis aims to confirm excellent cosmetic results and quick return to activity compared with the standard open nephrectomy technique.