Nephrectomy Health Article

Nephrectomy

Definition

A nephrectomy is a surgical procedure for the removal of a kidney or section of a kidney.

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.

Demographics

The HCUP Nationwide Inpatient Sample from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) reports that 46,130 patients underwent partial or radical nephrectomy surgery for non-transplant-related indications in the United States in 2000. Patients with kidney cancer accounted for over half of those procedures. The American Cancer Society projects that an estimated 31,900 new cases of renal cell carcinoma will occur in the United States in 2003.

According to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), 5,974 people underwent nephrectomy to become living kidney donors in 2001. The majority of these donors—43.9%—were between the ages of 35 and 49, and 58.8% were female. Related donors were more common than non-related donors, with full siblings being the most common relationship between living donor and kidney recipients (28.5% of living donors).

Description

Nephrectomy may involve removing a small portion of the kidney or the entire organ and surrounding tissues. In partial nephrectomy, only the diseased or infected portion of the kidney is removed. Radical nephrectomy involves removing the entire kidney, a section of the tube leading to the bladder (ureter), the gland that sits atop the kidney (adrenal gland), and the fatty tissue surrounding the kidney. A simple nephrectomy performed for living donor transplant purposes requires removal of the kidney and a section of the attached ureter.