Laparoscopic renal surgery is here to stay

Abstract

ObjectivesTo review the current literature comparing the outcomes of renal surgery via open, laparoscopic and robotic approaches.Materials and methodsA comprehensive literature search was performed on PubMed, MEDLINE and Ovid, to look for studies comparing outcomes of renal surgery via open, laparoscopic, and robotic approaches.ResultsLimited good-quality evidence suggests that all three approaches result in largely comparable functional and oncological outcomes. Both laparoscopic and robotic approaches result in less blood loss, analgesia requirement, with a shorter hospital stay and recovery time, with similar complication rates when compared with the open approach. Robotic renal surgeries have not shown any significant clinical benefit over a laparoscopic approach, whilst the associated cost is significantly higher.ConclusionWith the high cost and lack of overt clinical benefit of the robotic approach, laparoscopic renal surgery will likely continue to remain relevant in treating various urological pathologies.

Research Article Laparoscopic nephrectomy for the treatment of renal tumors at Thanh Hoa General Hospital in Vietnam

“…Also in robot assisted partial nephrectomy (RAPN), tumor complexity does not affect operative time, while for LPN it does (Faiena et al 2014;Bolton and Lynch, 2018;Luk et al 2018).…”

Role of laparoscopy in the era of robotic surgery in urology in developing countries

“…Minimally invasive surgery has been a definite advancement,[ 1 ] and laparoscopy has become the standard of care for most of the urological procedures in uro-oncology, ablative urology and urological reconstruction[ 2 3 ] The indications of laparoscopy are ever-expanding and it is often preferred over open surgery as it causes minimal pain, shorter convalescence, early return to work, better cosmesis and minimal morbidity. [ 4 ] However, traditional laparoscopy has some limitations in the form of limited degrees of freedom, two-dimensional vision, transmission of physiologic tremors, the fulcrum effect and so forth. With the introduction of robot-assisted surgery, a lot of these restraints seem to have been addressed.…”