Laparoendoscopic single-site donor nephrectomy: a single-center initial experience.

Background: This study presents our initial experience with laparoendoscopic single-site donor nephrectomy. Ten patients (8 females, 2 males; mean age 45.3 ± 13.2 years) underwent LESS-DN.

Material/methods: Transumbilical laparoscopic donor nephrectomy was performed using an SILS™ port. Standard laparoscopic instruments and a 30-degree angled camera were used during the surgery. We evaluated the following parameters: warm and cold ischemia time, duration of the operation, amount of blood loss during the operation, duration of hospitalization, creatinine level, and visual analogue scale score for pain at discharge.

Results: The means for duration of operation, warm ischemia time, and duration of hospitalization were 140 min, 194 s, and 1.4 days, respectively. Intraoperative and/or postoperative complications were not observed. Low pain score and cosmetic advantage were remarkable. All recipients had functional grafts. The results of our initial experience with LESS-DN appeared to be positive.

Conclusions: Further studies on the LESS-DN technique with larger series conducted in different centers are needed.