PURPOSE: To confirm the feasibility of the laparoendoscopic Pfannenstiel nephrectomy using conventional laparoscopic instruments. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Since March 2009, laparoscopic nephrectomy through a Pfannenstiel incision has been performed in selected patients in our service. The Veress needle was placed through the umbilicus which allowed carbon dioxide inflow. One 5 mm (or 10 mm) trocar was placed at the umbilicus for the laparoscope, to guide the placement of three trocars over the Pfannenstiel incision. Additional trocars were placed as follows: a 10 mm in the midline, a 10 mm ipsilateral to the kidney to be removed (2 cm away from the middle one), and a 5 mm contralateral to the kidney to be removed (2 cm away from the middle one). The entire procedure was performed using conventional laparoscopic instruments. At the end of the surgery, trocars were removed and all three incisions were united into a single Pfannenstiel incision for specimen retrieval. RESULTS: Five nephrectomies were performed following this technique: one atrophic kidney, one kidney donation, two renal cancers and one bilateral renal atrophy. Median operative time was 100 minutes and median intraoperative blood loss was 100 cc. No intraoperative complications occurred and no patients required blood transfusion. Median length of hospital stay was 1 day (range 1 to 2 days). CONCLUSIONS: The use of the Pfannenstiel incision for laparoscopic nephrectomy seems to be feasible even when using conventional laparoscopic instruments, and can be considered a potential alternative for traditional laparoscopic nephrectomy.

Worldwide experience with laparoscopic radical cystectomy is increasing in the last few years. We describe a 29-year-old female who underwent a laparoscopic radical cystectomy with ileal reservoir for a bladder sarcoma. Operative time was 405 minutes and estimated blood loss was 500 mL. She had an uneventful postoperative course and was discharged in the fifth postoperative day. Key-words: bladder, cystectomy, laparoscopy, urinary diversion, bladder neoplasms.

PURPOSE: To compare hand-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy and pure laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy techniques in live donor nephrectomy. METHODS: In this retrospective study, we included all patients submitted to hand-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy and pure laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy between May 2002 and December 2007. The operative data and post-operative courses were reviewed. Information was collected on the operative time, warm ischemia time, estimated blood loss, intra-operative complications, time to first oral intake, length of hospital stay, and post-operative complications. The data were analyzed using Student's t -tests and Fisher exact tests as appropriate, with statistical significance defined as p < 0.05. RESULTS: The means of the operative duration, warm ischemia time and intra-operative bleeding were 83 min, 3.6 min and 130.9 cc, respectively, for hand-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy, and 78.4 min, 2.5 min and 98.9 cc, respectively, for pure laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy (p=0.29, p<0.0001 and p=0.08, respectively). Intra-operative complications occurred in 6% of patients submitted to hand-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy and in 4.5% of those submitted to pure laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy (p=0.68). Only one patient from each group required conversion to open surgery; one person receiving hand-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy had bleeding and one person receiving pure laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy had low carbon dioxide levels during the warm ischemia period. Compared with patients receiving hand-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy, patients submitted to pure laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy were able to take their first meal earlier (12.5 vs. 9.2 hours, p=0.046), were discharged home sooner (2.8 vs. 1.4 days, p<0.0001) and had fewer post-operative complications (7.5% vs. 0.6%, p=0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Pure laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy had some advantages over hand-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy in terms of the warm ischemia time, time to first oral intake, length of hospital stay, and post-operative donor complications.