We've all heard the cautionary tales about a traveller who goes out one night, is drugged, and wakes the next morning, worse for wear, in an ice bath, with rudimentary stitches covering the wound where one of his/her kidneys used to be. This is an urban legend according to Snopes.com and America's National Kidney Foundation. But if it wasn't, discovering the work of organ thieves has just become a little harder. Why? Because surgeons have worked out how to remove a kidney through a person's navel. I'm not quite sure how they do it - because I was fairly sure there were organs between the bellybutton and kidneys which would make it difficult - especially if you're working through the navel - but they've done it. It makes kidney removal much easier and has hastened recovery rates. It will change the way people approach operations - similar to the way that the removal of gall bladders has changed over the years - first from requiring a sizeable cut, then able to be done through three small incisions in the abdomen, and now, they too (or it), can be taken out through the navel. The good news about this, and the great hope, is that people will now be more willing to donate a kidney - thereby boosting organ donation rates.
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