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Abstract: Introduction: Laparoscopic living donor nephrectomy (LDN) offers multiple advantages to the donor. Since 1999 LDN has become the only surgical approach for living kidney donation in our department. To our knowledge a donor health-related quality of life (QoL) has not yet been performed with standardized and validated questionnaires to compare laparoscopic with open nephrectomy. We therefore performed a study with two questionnaires (SF-36/GBB-24) and one set of open questions for all donors in our department. Methods: Questionnaires were sent out to all donors between 1983 and 2001 with at least a 1-year follow-up. To exclude a bias a maximum response rate was sought; donors who did not answer were recontacted as well as their recipients or their physicians to motivate them for participation. Results: The response rate was (89.8%). Except for less limb pain in the laparoscopy group, no difference could be detected for donors QoL with respect to the surgical method. Willingness to donate again was not affected by the surgical method. Nevertheless if asked again today, most donors want laparoscopic kidney retrieval. Conclusions: Donors health-related QoL is not affected by the surgical method when queried retrospectively. Nevertheless, most donors today would favor laparoscopy, if they could chose again. How laparoscopy affects a reluctant donor to step forward must be determined in a prospective study. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy (LDN) has removed disincentives of potential donors and may bear the potential to increase kidney donation. Multiple modifications have been made to abbreviate the learning curve while at the same time guarantee the highest possible level of medical quality for donor and recipient. We reviewed the literature for the evolution of the different LDN techniques and their impact on donor, graft and operating surgeon, including the subtleties of different surgical accesses, vessel handling and organ extraction. We performed a literature search (PubMed, DIMDI, medline) to evaluate the development of the LDN techniques from 1995 to 2003. Today more than 200 centres worldwide perform LDN. Hand-assistance has led to a spread of LDN. Studies comparing open and hand-assisted LDN show a reduction of operating and warm ischaemia times for the hand-assisted LDN. Different surgical access sites (trans- or retroperitoneal), different vessel dissection approaches, donor organ delivery techniques, delivery sites and variations of hand-assistance techniques reflect the evolution of LDN. Proper techniques and their combination for the consecutive surgical steps minimize both warm ischaemia time and operating time while offering the donor a safe minimally invasive laparoscopic procedure. LDN has breathed new life into the moribund field of living kidney donation. Within a few years LDN could become the standard approach in living kidney donation. Surgeons working in this field must be trained thoroughly and well acquainted with the subtleties of the different LDN techniques and their respective advantages and disadvantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]