Health-related Quality Of Life After Hand-assisted Laparoscopic And Open Radical Nephrectomies Of Renal Carcinoma

Objective To compare the outcome in contemporaneous groups of patients undergoing hand-assisted laparoscopic radical nephrectomy (HALRN) or open radical nephrectomy (ORN) for renal cell carcinoma (RCC).Methods The clinical data of 20 cases receiving hand-assistedlaparoscopic radical nephrectomy (group HALRN) and 51 cases open radical nephrectomy (group ORN) were analyzed retrospectively and health questionnaires were mailed to these cases. Two groups on the general surgery-related information, tumor characteristics, days of returning to work or living, quality of life scales, body image scales and cosmetic scales of surgical scars were compared.Results Patients in the HALRN group had significantly less mean incision length (6.25 cm: 17.8 cm), less mean blood loss (81.75 ml : 355 ml), earlier returning to work or living (5.3 weeks : 8.6 weeks), earlier out-of-bed activity (4.76d: 6.59d) andhigher cosmetic scale(17.7 :15.3) compared to ORN group (P <0.05). But days of postoperative hospitalization (11.6d:12.06 d), days of resumption of oral intake (2.60d:2.67d), body image scale(15.6:15.96)and quality of life scales after one year were similar (P>0.05).Conclusion The results showed that hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery is a minimally invasive surgical technique for RCC and provides less mean blood loss, earlier receivery , higher cosmetic scale and similar long-term quality of life compared to open surgery.