Objective: To evaluate the results of radical retroperitoneal laparoscopic nephrectomy in terms of tolerance, morbidity and oncologic control.
Material and methods: 22 radical nephrectomies have been carried out by retroperitoneal laparoscopy. One surgical conversion has been necessary. This series has been retrospectively compared to 16 radical nephrectomies by open surgery.
Results: Both series were comparable. Operative time was not significantly different in the two groups. Blood loss was less with laparoscopic surgery (p < 10-3). We did not see any difference in antalgic consumption during the first post-operative day and in intensive care and hospital stay. Post-operative complications were less in the laparoscopy group (p = 0.04). We observed no death or reccurrence with a mean follow-up of 8.7 months for the laparoscopy group vs 32.2 for the open group.
Conclusions: Radical retroperitoneal laparoscopic nephrectomy is a recent surgical technique which has the same oncologic standards as open surgery. Blood loss and post-operative complications are significantly reduced. Survival needs to be evaluated on long term follow-up.