Pushing the Envelope: Laparoscopic Nephrectomy as Outpatient Surgery.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The purposes of this review were to identify the possible limiting factors prohibiting laparoscopic nephrectomy being performed as an outpatient surgery and optimize these limiting factors.

RECENT FINDINGS: Laparoscopic nephrectomy for patients who have kidney cancer can be performed as an outpatient surgery in well-selected, well-educated, and well-informed patients in a well-prepared hospital culture. Patient confidence, pain, and hospital culture are the most important limiting factors to the performance of laparoscopic nephrectomy as an outpatient procedure. Controlling these factors leads to a high success rate for the outpatient procedure.