Experience of Cadaver Donor Nephrectomy with Cadaver Surgical Training

As cadaver donor nephrectomy in kidney transplantation is performed in only a limited number of cases, few physicians are skilled in the surgical technique. We performed two cadaver donor nephrectomy sessions during cadaver surgical training. The first session was performed by a lecturer who was skilled in the technique, with physicians and nurses participating in order to learn the methodology. The second session was conducted only for physicians. The procedures undertaken were as follows: cannulation of the femoral artery and vein, skin incision and bowel ligation, cross-clamping of the aorta, diaphragmatic incision and inferior vena cava incision, dissection of the aorta and inferior vena cava, and nephrectomy. Although there were some differences from that normally observed in actual patient surgery, such as no bleeding and formalin fixation, some of the procedures were very useful in helping to better understand cadaver donor nephrectomy.