Laparoscopic adjustable gastric band in an obese unrelated living donor prior to kidney transplantation: a case report

INTRODUCTION: Obese living donors who undergo donor nephrectomy have higher rates of intra-operative and post-operative complications. Many centres exclude obese donors from living donor transplant programs. Diet, exercise and medication are often ineffective weight loss interventions for donors, hence bariatric surgery should be considered. CASE PRESENTATION: We report the case of a 53-year-old Caucasian woman who underwent laparoscopically adjustable gastric banding. The procedure enabled her to lose sufficient weight to gain eligibility for kidney donation. After losing weight, she had an uncomplicated laparoscopic donor nephrectomy surgery, and the recipient underwent successful kidney transplantation. CONCLUSION: Laparoscopically adjustable gastric banding should be considered for obese potential living kidney donors whenever transplantation units restrict access to donor nephrectomy based on the increased surgical risk for donors.