The complications of laparoscopic renal surgery: A review of 10 years of audit data in the UK

Objective: To report the complications of laparoscopic renal surgery from the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS) database over ten years. Patients and methods: All entries for laparoscopic renal surgery between 2002 and 2012 were included for analysis. Data was refined, collated and presented in graphical or tabular form. The primary outcome measures were intraoperative, post-operative and overall complications rates. Secondary outcome measures were length of stay, conversion to open surgery and operative time. Results: A total of 16,869 cases were included for analysis. The overall complication rate was 14.7%, with intra-operative complications reported for 3.5% of procedures and post-operative complications reported for 12.1% of procedures. The overall complication rate decreased throughout the audit period, from 16.6% in 2002 to 15.1% in 2012. The capture rate is estimated at 30% and the group of surgeons motivated to self-report may not be representative of the whole group. Comparison with other series is difficult due to a lack of a standardized reporting format. Conclusion: This is the largest surgeon-reported series of laparoscopic renal surgery to date. There is an inherent bias in self-reported data which limits the conclusions that can be drawn, although the safe introduction of this technique and the continuing improvement in complication rates are suggested.