Objective: To assess the efficacy of CT angiography (CTA) in evaluating the renovascular anatomy in 50 patients who underwent laparoscopic donor nephrectomy, and to correlate results with donor morbidity and recipient outcome.
Methods: Forty-eight patients were evaluated by CTA prior to laparoscopy. Donors with aberrant renovasculature and their respective recipients were divided into: 1) accurate preoperative CTA ("predictive group", PG), 2) inaccurate CTA ("non-predictive group", NPG). Warm ischemia times (WIT), estimated blood loss (EBL), operative time (OT), and the open conversion rate were compared. Recipient creatinine values on post-operative day 1 and 3 months were recorded with the rate of delayed graft function (DGF) and ureteral complication. Statistical significance was calculated using the student's T-test.
Results: Among patients with aberrant vasculature (48%, 23/48) at laparoscopy, 14 were accurately predicted by CT angiography (11 arterial, 3 venous). NPG consisted of 5 duplicated arteries, 1 early arterial branching, and 3 anomalous veins. CT accuracy was 85%. The sensitivity and specificity of the arterial imaging were 65% and 100% respectively, while those of venous imaging were 50% and 100%. EBL, WIT, OT, number of open conversions, and ureteral complications were statistically insignificant between groups (p= 0.05, 95% C.I.). The mean decreases in creatinine between NPG and PG on post-operative day 1 and at 3 months were 45.4% and 54.8%, and 71.5% and 79.1% respectively, both statistically insignificant. Two of 8 in the NPG experienced DGF as compared to 1/8 in the PG.
Conclusions: Despite the lower sensitivity of this study, the discordance between imaging and laparoscopy did not augment donor morbidity or increase adverse recipient outcomes. This may indicate that regardless of the shortcomings of 2-D CTA for living donors, it represents a safe and effective imaging modality when coupled with meticulous laparoscopic dissection and central intraoperative involvement of the transplant surgeon.