Retrospective study of laparoscopic retroperitoneal radical nephrectomy.

Objective: To analyse the results of laparoscopic retroperitoneal radical nephrectomy in terms of feasibility, morbidity and disease control. Patients and Methods: Between October 1997 and May 2004, 42 laparoscopic retroperitoneal radical nephrectomies were performed in 33 men and 9 women for renal tumour Three or four trocars were used depending on the operative findings in order to achieve oncological imperatives: primary control of the renal pedicle before mobilization of the kidney (the artery was clipped and the vein was sectioned by Endo-GIA (R)), passage in the plane of radical nephrectomy and absence of direct contact with the tumour The operative specimen was extracted whole in an impermeable endoscopic bag by enlarging a trocar orifice to avoid any parietal contact. Results: 21 right radical nephrectomies and 21 left radical nephrectomies were performed in patients with a mean age of 61.8 years (range: 36 to 83 years). The mean size of the kidney was 120 mm (range: 60 to 170 mm), for a mean weight of 430 g (range: 55 to 870 g). The mean tumour size was 46.4 mm (range: 15 to 90 mm). The mean operating time was 132 mm (range: 70 to 240 mm) for an estimated mean blood loss of 120 cc (range: 0 to 1000 cc). The mean hospital stay was 8.3 days (range: 4 to 26 days). Conversion was necessary for technical difficulties in 7 cases (16.7%), venous injuries in 5 cases, arterial injury in 1 case, and difficult dissection of the perirenal fat due to a history of high-grade diffuse lymphoma in remission. The final histological stage showed 31 pT1 tumours, one pT2 tumour and 10 pT3 tumours. Four patients died in a context of metastatic diseases with a mean follow-up for our series of 15 months (range: 1 to 64 months). Conclusion: Laparoscopic retroperitoneal radical nephrectomy is a feasible technique, which strictly complies with the principles of cancer surgery. The main complication observed in our series was bleeding, which appears to depend on the surgeon's experience.