Retroperitoneal laparoscopic nephrectomy: laboratory and clinical experience.

Laparoscopic nephrectomy using an entirely retroperitoneal approach was performed in six anesthetized female pigs. In each animal, the kidney was localized using fluoroscopy, following which the retroperitoneum was insufflated with CO2. Subsequently, a retroperitoneal laparoscopic nephrectomy was performed in a 48-year-old man with a chronically obstructed, nonfunctioning kidney. Although the retroperitoneal approach provides excellent exposure for the dissection of the renal hilum, anatomic factors in the human limit port placement and organ entrapment and increase the risk for development of a pneumothorax.