The results of the analysis of domestic and foreign literature on complications of various approaches for nephrectomy are presented in the review. Along with open nephrectomy, complications of various minimally-invasive approaches are described, including laparoscopic, retroperitoneoscopic and robot-assisted nephrectomy. Recently, a large number of publications have been dedicated to donor nephrectomy, which is associated with the growing trend for these procedures in many clinics throughout the world using different approaches. The most of studies show that complications are more common for open nephrectomy (up to 30.4%) compared to laparoscopic (5.0–25.8%), retroperitoneoscopic (up to 17.1%) and robot-assisted (0–15%) nephrectomy. Unlike open procedure, minimally-invasive approaches have specific complications; however, most of the complications are identical for various methods. Retroperitoneoscopic access is associated with a minimal risk of damage to the abdominal organs.

Keywords: robot-assisted nephrectomy, retroperitoneoscopic nephrectomy, traditional laparoscopic nephrectomy, laparoscopic nephrectomy, complications