Is open surgery for partial nephrectomy an obsolete surgical procedure?
During the past few years, the indications for laparoscopic surgery in urology have extended from simple ablative procedures towards more complex reconstructive and organ-preserving interventions. Among them, transperitoneal and extraperitoneal laparoscopic partial nephrectomy have been successfully performed for both benign and malignant lesions. However, this approach raises specific problems because in contrast to other laparoscopic procedures the techniques and tools used during open surgery can not be simply transposed to laparoscopy. The absence of surface hypothermia, the lack of manual palpation, difficulties of vascular control and reconstruction of the collecting system necessitate new solutions readily adaptable to laparoscopic surgery. However, the available series comprise only a few cases, and there are differences in techniques and instrumentation in almost every operation. In these circumstances, it is too early to consider this new approach as reproducible and ready to
