Can robot-assisted kidney transplantation provide higher quality of life than open kidney transplantation during the early postoperative period?

PURPOSE Purpose of this study is to investigate the quality of life (QoL) in patients with end-stage renal disease who underwent open or robot-assisted kidney transplantation (OKT and RAKT). MATERIALS AND METHODS Patients who underwent OKT and RAKT at Bakirkoy Sadi Konuk Training and Research Hospital between June 2016 and December 2018 constituted the target population of this study. The patient group was divided into two groups as per the surgical technique (ie, open vs. robot-assisted). Demographic data, preoperative and postoperative data of all patients were collected prospectively. The QoL of the patients was assessed preoperatively and on the postoperative 30th day. RESULTS Sixty-seven patients who underwent OKT and 60 patients who underwent RAKT were included. The mean patient age and BMI were calculated as 40.9 ± 11.6 years and 24.4 ± 2.9 kg/m2 , respectively. Patients in the RAKT group were significantly younger than the patients in the OKT group (P = .002). There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of gender, BMI, ASA and the ratio of premptive patients. The mean preoperative hemoglobin level was significantly higher in the OKT group than the RAKT group (P = .003). While mean total ischemia time was shorter in the "open" group, intraoperative blood loss and incision length were shorter in the RAKT group. Duration of surgical drainage and hospital stay was shorter in the "robot-assisted" group. There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of SF-36 subparameters preoperatively. The physical component scores of the QoL questionnaire revealed that postoperative impairment of quality of life in the early postoperative period was more significant in the OKT than the RAKT. CONCLUSION Patients who underwent RAKT have a higher QoL than the patients who were treated with OKT as per their self-reported QoL scores in the early postoperative period.