ABSTRACT
The first partial nephrectomy is widely attributed to Czerny in 1889, and in 1884 Wells performed a partial nephrectomy to remove a perirenal lipoma. In the 1940s partial nephrectomy became a practical method for treating localized tuberculous disease of the kidney. The most common indication for partial nephrectomy in a child is a poorly functioning upper moiety of a duplex kidney. Less frequently, a lower-pole partial nephrectomy is required when there is reduced lower moiety function with significant vesicoureteric reflux and/or recurrent urinary tract infections. The position of the patient and the initial incision are the same for a partial nephrectomy as they are for a nephrectomy. A retroperitoneal urinoma can occur from the reflux of urine from the distal ureteric stump or from the cut surface of the kidney following partial nephrectomy. Clinical indications for laparoscopic nephrectomy/heminephrectomy are the same as for the open procedure.
