The tube that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder (ureter) and the blood vessels are cut away from the kidney and the kidney is removed. The incision is then closed. This opoeration is called a nephrectomy.
Reviewed last on: 9/7/2008
David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; and Louis S. Liou, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Urology, Department of Surgery, Boston University School of Medicine. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.