Can preoperative clinicoradiological parameters predict the difficulty during laparoscopic retroperitoneal simple nephrectomy? – A prospective study

INTRODUCTION: Urologists tend to prefer retroperitoneal approach for open nephrectomy and transperitoneal route for laparoscopic nephrectomy. Urologists consider retroperitoneal laparoscopic approach difficult to learn and perform. There is a need to objectively define predictors of difficulty during laparoscopic retroperitoneal simple nephrectomy (LRSN) for the proper preoperative selection. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to prospectively assess the factors associated with difficulty during LRSN. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All adult patients of nonfunctioning kidneys (due to benign causes) planned for simple nephrectomies from November 2014 to January 2017 were included in the study. Various clinical and radiological parameters were noted along with intraoperative difficulty parameters (difficulty score, total operative time, and estimated blood loss). Renal and perirenal parameters were assessed and noted on computed tomography scan. Difficulty scale was calculated based on the three difficulty parameters and was used to objectively categorize the patients in easy and difficult group. RESULTS: A total of 44 patients were included in the study. There were 23 patients in Group I (Easy) and 21 patients in Group II (Difficult). Various preoperative clinical and radiological parameters were analyzed and compared between these two groups. History of pyonephrosis and presence of nephrostomy tube were the only two statistically significant factors associated with difficult cases (Group II). None of the factors were statistically significant in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: Based on the findings of our study, history of pyonephrosis and presence of nephrostomy are the most significant factors predicting difficulty during LRSN.