Does carbon dioxide pneumoperitoneum affect the renal function in donors following laparoscopic donor nephrectomy? A prospective study.

CONTEXT: Although the technical feasibility of laparoscopic donor nephrectomy (LDN) has been established, concerns have been raised about the impaired renal function resulting from pneumoperitoneum and its short- and long-term effects.

AIMS: We used urinary biomarkers of acute kidney injury including urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (uNGAL) and urinary N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase (uNAG) to study the injury caused to the donor's retained kidney by pneumoperitoneum.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This was a prospective cohort study of thirty consecutive patients who underwent LDN at our hospital.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We measured urinary creatinine, uNAG and uNGAL at the time of induction of anaesthesia, at 1 h after starting surgery, at 5 min after clamping the ureter, at the time of skin closure and then at 4, 8 and 24 h after the surgery.

RESULTS: The uNAG level showed a gradual increase from the start of the surgery and reached the peak at the time of the closure. Thereafter, there was a gradual fall in the level and reached to pre-operative level at 24 h post-surgery. Similarly, the uNGAL also showed a similar trend although it did not reach pre-operative value by 24 h.

CONCLUSIONS: We objectively confirm that although there is acute injury to the retained kidney in the donor after LDN due to the CO2pneumoperitoneum, the renal function improves and reaches close to the pre-operative level within 24 h after surgery.