Background: Gynecologists have long used a vaginal incision for surgical treatment of pelvic pathology. More recently, however, laparoscopy has allowed gynecologists and other specialists to replace laparotomy with minimally invasive surgical techniques. The combination of laparoscopic and vaginal approaches has increased the surgical armamentarium of both the gynecologist and the urologist.
Case: A gynecologist found a renal cell carcinoma in a 52-year-old woman. The Urology and Gynecol-ogy Departments of the Kaiser Permanente (KP) Hawaii Region (KP Hawaii) planned a combined minimally invasive surgical procedure that became Hawaii's first reported retroperitoneal radical nephrectomy followed by laparoscopically assisted vaginal extraction of an intact kidney.
Conclusion: Collaboration between laparoscopic surgeons in the Departments of Urology and Gynecology has allowed us to share surgical techniques and approaches to perform minimally invasive surgery instead of using more morbid large incisions of the abdomen or flank as required previously.