Kidney transplantation is the preferred treatment for patients with end-stage renal disease and is associated with a better quality of life and survival compared to other renal replacement therapies. Compared to deceased donor kidneys, living donor kidney donation is associated with shorter wait times, improved patient and graft survival, and the possibility of preemptive transplantation.
After the initial learning curve, robotic-assisted living donor nephrectomy has similar outcomes compared to open and laparoscopic nephrectomy, and in some settings an overall decreased length of stay. This article presents the case of a robotic-assisted living donor nephrectomy, including evaluation, technique, and considerations for the surgeon preoperatively and intraoperatively.
End stage renal disease (ESRD) is the final stage in the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD). CKD has a multitude of etiologies, presents in a variety of ways, and progresses in a patient-dependent manner. Despite the heterogeneity of CKD, once ESRD ensues, patients require Renal Replacement Therapy (RRT). RRT is one of three prongs: hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, or kidney transplant.
Of these, kidney transplantation provides the patient with the best quality of life, an improved survival, and an opportunity for cure. However, the success of kidney transplantation with improved outcomes and tolerance to the required immunosuppression has led to an extreme organ shortage despite the increase in deceased organ donors. As a result, the push for living donors has become increasingly more important.
For recipients, the best outcomes are with transplants from a living donor due to superior graft quality and elimination of the need for waiting and dialysis. This article will present such a case and discuss the important considerations a physician must make preoperatively and intraoperatively when performing kidney transplantations.
Maggie L. Westfal, MD, MPH General Surgery Resident Massachusetts General Hospital
Nahel Elias, MD, FACS Transplant Surgery Department Massachusetts General Hospital
The patient in this case is a 56-year-old female with a past medical history of type I diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hypothyroidism, hyperlipidemia, and end stage renal disease secondary to diabetic and hypertensive nephropathies. In this video, Dr. Nahel Elias performs the recipient side of a living related kidney transplant from the patient’s sister.
Here’s a limerick you may enjoy (and a link to our donor nephrectomy).
On the day of Saint Patty, you’ll opt
For a drink you’ll make sure is unslopped,
But if you do not slow,
You’ll now know where to go –
Where to watch an old kidney be swapped.
-Alexis Drake, Journal’s Occasional Metrist of Infirmary
Extraction of donor kidneys is transitioning from an open to a laparoscopic procedure. Professor of Surgery Dr. Tatsuo Kawai walks us through this minimally invasive technique.
