Kidney Surgery 

When you say the words "kidney surgery," you could actually be talking about several different kinds of procedures. 

Generally speaking, there's a type of kidney surgery in which all or part of a kidney is removed.

There's also kidney transplant surgery, in which a healthy kidney is removed from one person and transplanted into someone who needs a kidney.

Or you might be referring to surgery to remove a kidney stone. Kidney stone surgery and transplant surgery are subjects for a whole different post, so we'll focus on kidney removal surgery here.
 

Kidney Surgery

Currently, there are three basic types of kidney removal surgery. The one that's best for you depends on your diagnosis and the recommendation of your medical team.

First, there's a procedure called a simple nephrectomy. For a long time, this was done by making a long open incision (10-12 inches), taking out the whole kidney, and closing up the incision. Obviously, open surgery of this type is a major trauma for the body. So a few years ago, a procedure called laparoscopic surgery was developed.

Laparoscopy is much less invasive because it's done with a pencil-thin, flexible surgical device. This tube-like device has a tiny camera attached to the end.  The surgeon needs only 3-4 small incisions (about one inch) and performs the operation by watching what he or she is doing on a TV screen. Since the trauma to the body is reduced, recovery time is reduced. There's also less pain during recovery.

Another possibility is a radical nephrectomy. This type of surgery involves removing not only the kidney, but some of the tissues and organs around it. It's more complicated because the surgeon also takes out the adrenal gland above the kidney, some surrounding fatty tissue, and the lymph nodes next to the kidney.

A radical nephrectomy is usually recommended for kidneys that have malignancies.

A partial nephrectomy is the third possibility.  As the name suggests, this procedure involves removing only part of a kidney. A person who has previously had a kidney removed, and only has one left, would be a candidate for this kind of surgery. It might also be done to remove a tumor from a kidney.

Recovery from kidney surgery depends, of course, on the type of procedure that was done. Other factors include the general health of the patient, and his or her age.

After kidney surgery, your doctor will probably recommend a low protein diet. The body needs protein to function, but too  much protein can be stressful for both the kidneys and liver.

As for returning to a normal life after kidney surgery...a lot again depends on the type of surgery you had. Usually a hospital stay of 2-3 days is normal for laparoscopic surgery, and 5-7 days for open surgery.

You can resume light activities as soon as you feel ready, but most doctors will tell you to refrain form anything strenuous for about 6 weeks.  

Also click on nephrectomy, kidney removal, and laparoscopic kidney surgery.
 

 
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