Laparoscopic to robotic living donor nephrectomy: Is it time to change surgical technique?

Background: We aimed to explore differences in outcomes of robotic and laparoscopic donor nephrectomies (LDN).

Methods: This study compared robotic and laparoscopic surgical techniques for live donor nephrectomies in 153 patients at a single centre.

Results: Left nephrectomies were more common in both groups, but with no significant difference between the groups (76.6% vs. 77.6%, p = 0.88). The robotic donor nephrectomies (RDN) group experienced significantly less blood loss (60 vs. 134 mL, p < 0.01), but warm ischaemia time was similar between groups (3.2 vs. 3.7 min, p = 0.54).The RDN group had decreased subjective pain scores (3.54 vs. 4.21, p = 0.04) and shorter length of hospitalisation (2.22 vs. 3.04 days, p < 0.01).There were also fewer complications in the RDN than the LDN group (4 vs. 8, p = 0.186).

Conclusion: This study demonstrated that RDN is a safe and alternative to LDN. Decreased blood loss and hospital stays and fewer complications may reflect decreased tissue manipulation with robotic assistance.