Does laparoscopic transperitoneal simple nephrectomy for inflammatory and non-inflammatory kidneys differ?

Laparoscopic simple nephrectomy is the standard procedure for the removal of non-functioning benign kidney. It can be performed transperitoneally or retroperitoneally. There are several studies comparing the results of transperitoneally or retroperitoneally laparoscopic nephrectomy but there are limited numbers of study comparing results of laparoscopic transperitoneal simple nephrectomy in non-inflammatory and inflammatory non-functioning kidneys. The aim of this study was to compare the results of laparoscopic transperitoneal simple nephrectomy in non-inflammatory and inflammatory non-functioning kidneys.

We retrospectively reviewed the records of patients who underwent laparoscopic nephrectomy for various inflammatory and non-inflammatory renal conditions at our institution from May 2012 to October 2015. We divided the patients in two groups. Group 2 involved the kidneys with stone disease and/or hydronephrosis, patients with previous renal surgery and patients with the history of recurrent infections. Group 1 involved the patients who had non-functioning kidney without these properties. All the surgeries were performed by transperitoneal approach and peroperative blood loss, operation time, hospitalization time, postoperative creatinine changes and haemoglobin drop were compared between groups. There were 22 patients with inflammatory and 27 patients with non-inflammatory non-functioning kidney. Operation time, peroperative blood loss, hospitalization time, postoperative haemoglobin drop and creatinine difference were not statistically different between groups. Surgical side and the presence of previous surgery did not affect the surgical results of inflammatory and non-inflammatory kidney nephrectomy. The only difference was postoperative fever which was more frequent after the nephrectomy of inflammatory kidney.

On the basis of our experience, surgical results of transperitoneal laparoscopic simple nephrectomy did not differ between inflammatory and non-inflammatory kidneys. Surgical times were higher in inflammatory group even if the difference was not significant.