Minimally Invasive and Open Donor Nephrectomy: Lessons Learned From a French Multicenter Experience

We evaluated different techniques of donor nephrectomy.

Outcomes of 4 surgical approaches (open surgery [OS], standard laparoscopy [SL], hand-assisted laparoscopy [HAL], and robot-assisted la`paroscopy [RAL]) were compared.

A total of 264 nephrectomies were performed: 65 in the OS group, 65 in the SL group, 65 in the HAL group, and 69 in RAL group. Operative time was longer for the RAL group (P < .001) with a mean time of 202 minutes (RAL), 182 minutes (OS), 173 minutes (SL), and 157 minutes (HAL). Complications (P = .002) and consumption of morphine derivates (P = .31) were lower for the RAL group (P = .0002). The visual analog scale pain scores (P = .002), hospital stay (P = .023), and time to return to full activities (P = .79) were higher for OS.

The 4 different nephrectomy surgical approaches had similar favorable results. The robot-assisted technique presented as an alternative option, with low incidence of complications, less pain, and results comparable to the other techniques.