Abstract

Objectives: Simple renal cyst is the most common benign disease of the kidney. It requires treatment only when it can not be distinguished from a malignant processor if it causes pelvicaliceal obstruction and/or hypertension. In this study, laparoscopy and open surgery; both used in the treatment of symptomatic simple renal cysts are compared considering duration of procedure, outcome, cost and complications.

Material and Methods: In our clinic, between October 1993 and February 2002, 21 patients (15 male, 6 female) (group I), had laparoscopic renal cyst excision and 40 (19 male, 21 female) (group II) had open surgery for cyst removal. Both were done under general anesthesia. Mean ages in group I and II were 53.5 years (25-74) and 48.4 years (29-70) respectively. In the group I; transperitoneal approach was preferred in 10 patients, and retroperitoneal in 11.

Results: Mean duration of operation was 154±69 minutes in the first; and 125±43 minutes in the second group. Mean hospital stay was 18 hours for the first; and 4.8 days for the second group. In the two patients (9.5%) of the first group, the procedure was switched to open surgery because of bleeding. In one patient (4.5%) of the second group postoperative bleeding became. The cost in the first group was 1109 USD and 358 USD in the second group.

Conclusion: Even though the cost is high, we conclude that laparoscopic surgery is an effective method in the treatment of symptomatic simple renal cysts because hospital stay is shorter and therefore loss of work-days is less and the operation scar is much smaller.