Kidney removal

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Kidneys

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Sometimes, your surgeon may make a cut in a different place than described above.

Some hospitals and medical centers are doing this surgery using robots. See also: Robotic surgery

Kidney removal may be recommended for:

• Someone donating a kidney
• Birth defects
• Kidney cancer
• A kidney damaged by infection, kidney stones, or other problems
• To help control high blood pressure in someone who has problems with the blood supply to their kidney
• Very bad injury (trauma) to the kidney that cannot be repaired

Always tell your doctor or nurse:

• If you could be pregnant
• What drugs you are taking, even drugs or herbs you bought without a prescription

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During the days before the surgery:

• You will have blood samples taken in case you need a blood transfusion.
• You may be asked to stop taking aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), naproxen (Aleve, Naprosyn), Clopidogrel (Plavix), warfarin (Coumadin), and other drugs like these.
• Ask your doctor which drugs you should still take on the day of the surgery.
• Do not smoke. This will help you to recover quicker.

On the day of the surgery:

• You will usually be asked not to drink or eat anything after midnight the night before the surgery.
• Take the drugs your doctor told you to take with a small sip of water.
• Your doctor or nurse will tell you when to arrive at the hospital.

You will stay in the hospital for 2 to 7 days, depending on the type of the surgery you have. During a hospital stay, you may:

• Be asked to sit on the side of the bed and walk on the same day at surgery
• Have a tube, or catheter, that comes from your bladder
• Have a drain that comes out through your surgical cut
• Not be able to eat the first 1 to 3 days, and then you will begin with liquids
• Be encouraged to do breathing exercises
• Wear special stockings to prevent blood clots
• Receive shots under your skin to prevent blood clots
• Receive pain medicine into your veins or pills

Recovering from open surgery may be painful because of where the surgical cut is. Recovery after a laparoscopic procedure is usually quicker, with less pain.

The outcome is usually good when a single kidney is removed. If both kidneys are removed, or the remaining kidney does not work well enough, you will need hemodialysis or a kidney transplant.

Review Date: 09/03/2010
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; Scott Miller, MD, Urologist in private practice in Atlanta, Georgia. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org).