Type of Surgery

Information

Doctor Certified

Last updated: 11/24/2009

Purpose

Nephrectomy, or kidney removal, is performed on patients with severe kidney damage from disease, injury, or congenital conditions. These include cancer of the kidney (renal cell carcinoma); polycystic kidney disease (a disease in which cysts, or sac-like...

structures, displace healthy kidney tissue); and serious kidney infections. It is also used to remove a healthy kidney from a donor for the purposes of kidney transplantation.


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To remove a kidney in an open procedure, an incision is made below the ribcage (A). The kidney is exposed (B) and connections to blood vessels and the ureter are severed (C). The kidney is removed in one piece (D). (Illustration by GGS Inc.) To remove a kidney in an open procedure, an incision is made below the ribcage (A). The kidney is exposed (B) and connections to blood vessels and the ureter are severed (C). The kidney is removed in one piece (D). (Illustration by GGS Inc.)




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Other Information

Nephrectomy is the surgical removal of a kidney.

The surgery is performed with the patient under general anesthesia. The surgeon makes an incision in the side of the abdomen to reach the kidney. Depending on circumstances, the incision can also be made midline. The ureter and blood vessels are disconnected, and the kidney is then removed.

The surgery can be done as open surgery, with one incision, or as a laparoscopic procedure, with three or four small cuts in the abdominal and flank area.

Recently, this procedure is performed through a single incision in the patient's belly-button. This advanced technique is called as Single Port Access Surgery.

There are alternatives today that do not require the extraction of a kidney. Such alternatives include renal embolization and partial nephrectomy, both of which are more practical because it does not look for a donor kidney, but simply works on the patient's kidney.


From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephrectomy

Other Information

In 2000, the estimated number of hospital admissions among adults aged 18 or older with urinary incontinence listed as a diagnosis was of 47,802 hospital stays (1,332 men; 46,470 women).


From: NKUDIC

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