Three-Dimensional Visualization With Virtual Reality Facilitates Complex Live Donor Renal Transplant.

Living donor renal transplant involves highly technical operations in both a healthy donor and a recipient with end-stage kidney disease. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography angiography (CTA) is used to assess critical donor anatomy, but its interpretation becomes increasingly difficult as renal anatomy becomes more complex. A related donor was denied because of prohibitive anatomy seen on the pretransplant evaluation CTA. As the donor was highly motivated to donate, CTA DICOM images were segmented to create a 3-dimensional (3D) model that could be evaluated in an immersive and stereoscopic virtual reality (VR) environment. The donor's anatomy was found to be acceptable, and he was approved. In live donor nephrectomy candidates, 3D reconstruction and VR visualization can be used to facilitate appreciation of complex anatomy.