Original Paper
Urol Int 2021;105:100–107
Laparoscopic Live Donor Nephrectomy:
Experience of High-Volume Center with
2,477 Cases
Sefa Alperen Ozturk
a
Yucel Yuksel
b
Halil Erbis
b
Ibrahim Aliosmanoglu
b
Mehmet Sarier
c
Ozlem Yayar
d
Havva Asuman Yavuz
d
Alper Demirbas
b
a
Department of Urology, Suleyman Demirel University School of Medicine, Isparta, Turkey;
b
Department of General
Surgery and Transplantation, Medical Park Hospital, Antalya, Turkey;
c
Department of Urology, Istinye University
Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey;
d
Department of Nephrology and Transplantation, Medical Park Hospital, Antalya,
Turkey
Received: July 14, 2020
Accepted: September 4, 2020
Published online: November 18, 2020
Sefa Alperen Ozturk
Department of Urology, Süleyman Demirel University School of Medicine
Cünür
Isparta 32260 (Turkey)
dr.sefa.alperen @gmail.com
© 2020 S. Karger AG, Basel karger@karger.com
www.karger.com/uin
DOI: 10.1159/000511377
Keywords
Laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy · Tips and tricks ·
Obesity · Warm ischemia time · Operation time · Multiple
renal arteries
Abstract
Objective: Donors’ health and safety are mandatory in the
living-donor kidney transplantation procedure. Laparoscop-
ic live donor nephrectomy (LLDN) provides an increase in
donor numbers with its benefits and becomes a standard of
care. We aimed to explain the results, complication rates,
tips, and tricks of the largest number of LLDN case series ever
performed in the literature. Materials and Methods: Be-
tween August 2012 and December 2019, 2,477 live donor
case files were analyzed retrospectively. Age, gender, hospi-
talization times, body mass index, warm ischemia times, op-
eration times, numbers of arteries, side of the kidneys, and
complications were noted. Results: 1,421 (57.4%) of 2,477
donors were female (p = 0.007). Operation times and warm
ischemia times were found longer in right-sided LLDN and
donors with multiple renal arteries (p = 0.046, <0.001, and
<0.001, respectively). Obesity (BMI >30 kg/m
2
) did not affect
warm ischemia times while prolonging the operation times
(p = 0.013). Hospitalization times and numbers of complica-
tions were higher in obese donors. Conclusions: LLDN seems
to be a reliable solution with fewer complications and high-
er satisfaction rates. We hope to illuminate the way with tips
and trick points for beginner transplant surgeons based on
the experience obtained from 2,477 LLDN cases.
© 2020 S. Karger AG, Basel
Introduction
Nowadays, kidney transplantation is the optimal treat-
ment for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients [1]. The
dead-end for the transplantation is lower numbers of the
graft kidneys. After live donor nephrectomy starts being
performed by surgeons, the pool of the graft has enlarged.
There are several surgical procedures for harvesting the
kidneys from live donors. At present, laparoscopic live
donor nephrectomy (LLDN) is a standard surgical meth-
od that was defined by Ratner et al. in 1995 [2].
LLDN encourages people to kidney donation [3].
Many transplantation centers use LLDN as a standard