Outcomes and surgical complications following living-donor renal transplantation using kidneys retrieved with trans-peritoneal or retro-peritoneal hand-assisted laparoscopic nephrectomy.

The best minimally-invasive procedure for living-donor kidney retrieval remains debated. Our objective was to assess trans-peritoneal (TP) and retro-peritoneal (RP) hand-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy (HALDN). In this single-centre retrospective study, we analysed results from 317 living-donor renal transplants (RT) performed between 2008 and 2016. Donor and recipient outcomes were compared between TP-HALDN (n=235) and RP-HALDN (n=82). Conversion to open nephrectomy (0.4% vs 0%; P=1.000), intra-operative complications (1.7% vs 1.2%; P=1.000), and 1-year overall post-operative complications (11.9% vs 17.1%; P=0.258) rates were similar in TP-HALDN and RP-HALDN. Overall surgical site infections were higher in RP-HALDN (6.1% vs 1.7%; P=0.053) whereas incisional hernias were only recorded following TP-HALDN (3.4% vs 0%; P=0.118). The duration of the procedure was 11-minute shorter for TP-HALDN than RP-HALDN (P<0.001) but extraction time was equivalent (2, IQR 1.5-2.5 minutes; P=1.000). RT following TP-HALDN and RP-HALDN showed comparable one-year death-censored allograft survival (97% vs 98.8%; P=0.685), primary non-function (0.4% vs 0%; P=0.290), delayed graft function (1.3% vs 4.9%; P=0.077), and urological complications (2.6% vs 4.9%; P=0.290) rates. In our series, donor and recipient outcomes were not substantially affected by the approach used for donor nephrectomy. TP-HALDN and RP-HALDN were both safe and effective.