[Laparoscopic living donor nephrectomy: functional repercussion in the pediatric recipient].

AIM: The impact of laparoscopic (LDN) vs. open nephrectomy (ODN) on early graft function and survival in pediatric kidney recipient remains unclear.

MATERIAL AND METHOD: We retrospectively review the records of 63 pediatric recipient of living donor renal trasplant from 1994 to 2007. We compared those who recieved allograft recovered by LDN (n: 16) with those by ODN (n: 47). The mean recipient age was 9.3 +/- 5 years and the mean donor age was 40.8 +/- 7 years. Outcomes of interest included the incidence of delayer graft function, acute rejection and long-term graft function.

RESULTS: Donor, recipient, demographic data and the total time of cold ischemia (1.9 +/- 0.3 hours) were similar in both groups. The mean of kidney warm ischemia was (195 LDN vs. 20 ODN seconds). There were not any significant differences between the two groups, not even in the patient survival after 36 months (100% LDN vs. 98% ODN), neither in the graft survival with proportional hazards Cox analysis. The LDN group needed more days (9.56 +/- 2.3 vs. 4.72 +/- 0.57 ODN) to reach the minimum serum creatinine, but the GF (ml/min/1.73 m2) was similar at 6 months (122 +/- 12 LDN vs. 87 +/- 17 ODN), one year (139 +/- 45 LDN vs. 88 +/- 27 ODN), and two years (110 +/- 64 LDN vs. 82 +/- 30 ODN) after transplant.

CONCLUSIONS: LDN delays the recovery of the graft function in pediatric recipient. Pediatric LDN recipient have graft outcomes comparable to those of ODN.