Laparoscopic surgery for live donor nephrectomy

Laparoscopic surgery for live donor nephrectomy has been well implemented in kidney transplant centres around the world since mid 1990s [1-3]. It has been demonstrated that laparoscopic surgery has the advantage of smaller incision, less pain, quicker recovery and better cosmetic appearance and comparable kidney graft function when compared with conventional open surgery [2,4-6]. There are various surgical techniques with two major approaches transperitoneal laparoscopy and retroperitoneal retroperitoneoscopy. Hand assistance to each of these two approaches has also been widely employed. There is no large clinical trial to demonstrate which technique is superior to another, although some literature reviews have found there is a tendency of less blood transfusion, less vessel injury, less conversion to open surgery and less delayed graft function rate in retroperitoneoscopic approach...