Kidney donors have little to show for it

[okarol]

Kidney donors have little to show for it

Associated Press
    July 18, 2008

CLEVELAND — Brad Kaster donated a kidney to his father this week, and it barely left a scar.

The kidney was removed through a single incision in his bellybutton, a surgical procedure that Cleveland Clinic doctors say will reduce recovery time and leave almost no scarring.

"The actual incision point on me is so tiny I'm not getting any pain from it," Kaster, 29, said Wednesday.

The first 10 recipients and donors whose transplants used the single-incision navel procedure have done well, the researchers say. They report on the first four patients in the August issue of the Journal of Urology.

On Thursday, Scott Bolender, 39, of Washington Court House, Ohio, received a kidney taken from his niece, Chanda Calentine, through her bellybutton.

Calentine said she was thrilled to provide a kidney for her uncle and was confident in the promise of a "nearly scar-free" post-surgical bellybutton.

The procedure involves making a 3/4 -inch incision in the interior of the bellybutton for inserting a camera and other tools into the belly.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-health-digestjul18,0,7731380.story

[stauffenberg]

With their usual inertia, Canadian nephrological surgeons still do not perform laparoscopies.  One nephrologist told me the reason for this is because the supply of nephrologist surgeons is so limited, none can be spared for the short time required to train them in performing laparoscopies.  This is yet another consequence of the Canadian provincial governments finding tax cuts more  important than healthcare funding!

[paris]

I heard this on tv  over the weekend.    for any steps forward in transplantation.

[angela515]

My mom probably wishes they did this in 1999, but she still loves her scar that goes around half her body, and is proud to show it off.