Aim: To report a single centre's experience in the perioperative management of live kidney laparoscopic donations. METHODS.
Design: comparative analysis of all laparoscopic kidney donations performed between April 2000 and August 2002 and a corresponding number of "traditional surgery" donors from a historical series.
Setting: kidney transplant centre of a teaching hospital.
Interventions: 39 and 27 subjects undergoing respectively laparoscopic and traditional "open" kidney donation were studied. A standard balanced anesthesiological technique was used in both groups but, to counterbalance the reported abdominal insufflation-related kidney dysfunction, laparoscopic donors were administered an extra intravascular volume loading with colloids and crystalloids starting from the night before surgery.
Results: Laparoscopic donors underwent a longer procedure with a lower estimated blood loss (p=0.0001) and were intraoperatively administered with a higher amount of intravenous fluids (p<0.01); they showed less postoperative analgesic requirement (p<0.0001), a shorter ICU stay and overall hospitalisation (p<0.001), a quicker resumption of solid oral intakes (p<0.01) and full return to work (p<0.001) with no difference in the rate of postoperative complications. Diuresis resumed intraoperatively in all recipients and early graft function did not differ in the 2 groups although serum creatinine declined earlier, but not significantly, in those receiving kidneys by the traditional method.
Conclusion: Kidney laparoscopic donation does not require a particularly complex or expensive anaesthetic management or approach; it is advisable to adopt strategies to counterbalance laparoscopy-associated abdominal hypertension.