Hand-assisted laparoscopic nephrectomy in morbidly obese patients

Prevalence of obesity is 30 % in the Czech Republic and is expected to increase further in the future. This disease complicates surgical procedures but also the postoperative period. The aim of our paper is to present the surgical technique called hand-assisted laparoscopic nephrectomy (HALS), used in surgical management of kidney cancer in morbid obese patients with BMI >40 kg/m2.

The basic cohort of seven patients with BMI >40 undergoing HALS nephrectomy was retrospectively evaluated. Demographic data were ana-lyzed (age, gender, body weight, height, BMI and comorbidities). The perioperative course (surgery time, blood loss, ICU time, hospital stay and early complications), tumor characteristics (histology, TNM classification, tumor size, removed kidney size) and postoperative follow-up were evaluated.

The patient age was 3867 years; the cohort included 2 females and 5 males, the body weight was 117155 kg and the BMI was 40.3501 kg/m2. Surgery time was 7398 minutes, blood loss was 20450 ml, and hospital stay was 57 days; incisional hernia occurred in one patient. Kidney cancer was confirmed in all cases, 48-110 mm in diameter, and the largest removed specimen size was 210×140×130 mm. One patient died just 9 months after the surgery because of metastatic disease; the tumor-free period in the other patients currently varies between 1 and 5 years.  Conclusion: HALS nephrectomy seems to be a suitable and safe surgical technique in complicated patients like these morbid obese patients. HALS nephrectomy provides acceptable surgical and oncological results.