Kidney removal or a surgical procedure to remove a kidney.

This surgery is done under general anesthesia (asleep and pain-free) while the surgeon makes a cut in the abdomen or in the side of the abdomen (flank area). A rib may need to be removed to perform the procedure.

The ureter (the tube that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder) and the blood vessels are cut away from the kidney and the kidney is removed. The cut is then closed.

Kidney removal may be done as open surgery, which involves a large cut in the side of the abdomen. Some patients may have laparoscopic surgery, which is less invasive and involves three or four small cuts, usually no more than an inch each, in the abdominal and flank areas.

The surgical removal of a kidney through an abdominal incision: An abdominal nephrectomy is made by cutting through the anterior or front of the abdominal wall which is performed either by a transperitoneal (across the smooth serous tissue membrane which lines the cavity of the abdomen) or by an extraperitoneal (outside the tissue membrane) technique.