Factors Associated with Prolonged Retroperitoneal Laparoscopic Radical Nephrectomy Performed by Non-expert Surgeons

Background While high body mass index (BMI) and visceral obesity are reportedly associated with a prolonged duration of laparoscopic radical nephrectomy (LRN) via the transperitoneal approach, factors that might prolong the retroperitoneal approach remain unknown. We therefore investigated factors associated with prolonged LRN using a retroperitoneal approach applied by non-expert surgeons. Methods We defined surgeons who were not certified to perform laparoscopic surgery by the Japanese Society of Endourology as non-experts. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 59 consecutive patients with renal cell carcinoma treated with LRN using the retroperitoneal approach by non-experts at our hospital between 2014 and 2019. Relationships between surgical duration and age, sex, body mass index, visceral fat area (VFA) and subcutaneous fat area (SFA), laterality and location of the tumor, length of major tumor axis (tumor length), clinical T stage, ipsilateral adrenalectomy and specimen weight were analyzed using Spearman rank correlation coefficients. Results The surgical duration positively correlated with ipsilateral adrenalectomy (rs = 0.3162, p = 0.0147) and specimen weight (rs = 0.3103, p = 0.0168), but not with BMI (rs = 0.2016, p = 0.1257) or VFA (rs = 0.0185, p = 0.8894). Conclusions Factors associated with prolonged LRN via the retroperitoneal approach implemented by non-expert surgeons are ipsilateral adrenalectomy and specimen weight.