Re: A Prospective Randomized Study of Pfannenstiel versus Expanded Port Site Incision for Intact Specimen Extraction in Laparoscopic Radical Nephrectomy

available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25819645 Editorial Comment: In this study the authors randomized 51 laparoscopic transperitoneal radical nephrectomy cases with intact specimen extraction to either Pfannenstiel or expanded port site incision. Pain scores on postoperative day 1 and hospital stay were significantly less for the Pfan- nenstiel group, although clinically the improvements were modest (less than 1 point on Likert pain scale and half day hospital stay). Extensive cosmesis and operative satisfaction questioning demonstrated no difference between the groups. Surprisingly the "extra" Pfannenstiel incision did not increase operative time or extraction time, which I believe has been the main impediment to widespread use of the Pfannenstiel extraction. I certainly will use this incision more often for specimen retrieval.