Complications of urological laparoscopy: a standardized 1 institution experience

Urological laparoscopy has a significant and steep learning curve plus its own unique set of complications. Our retrospective study documents the success at 1 institution of maintaining a low number of complications during urological laparoscopy using a standardized approach plus clinicians with significant laparoscopic experience.

We evaluated 282 consecutive adults who underwent urological laparoscopic procedures at our institution. Of the procedures 241 (85%) were performed for pelvic lymph node dissection, and 41 (15%) for renal and other miscellaneous conditions. The common factor in all of these laparoscopic procedures was a single team approach, thus standardization for the entire series of procedures.

Of 12 complications (4.2%) 5 were noted intraoperatively and 7 were discovered in the postoperative period. Five patients (1.8%) required open surgical intervention, including 3 intraoperative repairs of vascular (1), ureteral (1) and bladder (1) injuries. Procedures were aborted because of technical difficulties in 7 patients (2.8%) and because of hemorrhage during adrenalectomy in 1. Delayed complications included ureteral injury in 1 patient, seroma at the trocar site in 2, exacerbation of bowel diverticulitis requiring surgical intervention in 1, prolonged endotracheal intubation for hypercapnia in 1 and transient brachial nerve palsy in 2.

Along with appropriate patient selection and adequate instrumentation, the benefit of significant laparoscopic experience and standardization cannot be overemphasized. The success of this combined approach is reflected in the low rate of major (2%) and minor (2.5%) complications experienced at 1 institution.