Laparoscopic nephropexy: Long-term follow-up - Washington University experience

Background and Purpose: Recently, laparoscopy has been reported as a minima lly invasive approach for performing nephropexy in patients with symptomati c nephroptosis, Herein, we report our long-term follow-up of patients under going laparoscopic nephropexy for this indication. Patients and Methods: Fourteen women presenting with right flank pain and r adiologically documented nephroptosis underwent transperitoneal laparoscopi c nephropexy, The hospital data were evaluated for operative time, time to oral intake, time to ambulation, amount of parenteral analgesics, and hospi tal stay. Pain analog scores and postoperative questionnaires were used to assess the long-term postoperative recovery of the patients. Results: The average operative time was 4.1 hours (range 2.5-6.5 hours). Th e patients resumed oral intake an average of 16.5 hours (range 15-48 hours) postoperatively, Analgesic requirements averaged 37 mg of morphine sulfate equivalent (range 15-80 mg of morphine equivalent). The average hospital s tay was 2.6 days (range 2-5 days). The average follow-up time for the 14 pa tients was 3.3 years, with an average 80% improvement in their pain (range 56%-100%), On average, the patients resumed their usual activities 6 weeks postoperatively (range 1-12 weeks). Conclusion: Nephropexy can be safely and effectively accomplished laparosco pically, with durable radiographic and clinical resolution of the signs and symptoms.