The most common reason a urologic surgeon performs a nephrectomy is to remove a tumor from the kidney. These tumors are usually cancerous, but they can be noncancerous (benign). Sometimes a nephrectomy is needed because of other kidney diseases.

What are the indications for nephrectomy?

Indications for nephrectomy include kidney cancer, severe trauma to the kidney and benign disease such as symptomatic hydronephrosis, chronic infection, polycystic kidney disease, shrunken kidney, hypertension or renal calculus.

Why is a nephrectomy performed?

Nephrectomy (nephro = kidney, ectomy = removal) is the surgical removal of a kidney. The procedure is done to treat kidney cancer as well as other kidney diseases and injuries. Nephrectomy is also done to remove a healthy kidney from a donor (either living or deceased) for transplantation.