Hand-assisted and standard laparoscopic radical nephrectomy after prior renal surgery

With the increasing use of partial nephrectomy, cases of ipsilateral tumor recurrence will inevitably occur. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and feasibility of laparoscopic radical nephrectomy (LRN) for a previously operated kidney, through a case-matched comparison with LRN in patients without prior renal surgery.

Among 550 patients who underwent hand-assisted or standard LRN at our institution between August 1996 and January 2013, we identified patients who had prior laparoscopic or open surgical renal surgery. Each study patient was matched 1:2 with patients who had not had prior renal surgery. Matching was exact by surgical approach, gender, side of surgery, and American Society of Anesthesiologists score, and closest possible by age and body mass index.

LRN was performed in 9 patients (6 hand-assisted and 3 standard) with prior open surgical or laparoscopic renal surgery. There were no conversions to open surgery. Primary surgeon tended to be to attending urologist more often than the trainee in the study compared to the control patients, an indication of increased technical difficulty. Additionally, there were four intraoperative injuries recorded in the study group (44%) and just one such event in the control group (5.6%) (p = 0.0297).

Although LRN after prior renal surgery is challenging, requiring the expertise of experienced surgeons and being associated with appreciable rate of intraoperative injuries, these cases can be completed laparoscopically (especially with the selective use of hand-assistance) and are associated with duration of hospitalization and postoperative complication rates similar to those in patients undergoing LRN without prior renal surgery.