General and regional anesthesia methods are used with success in donor nephrectomy. In our study, comparison of the remaining kidney function in respect to general (GA) versus combined spinal-epidural anesthesia (CSE) used for donor surgery was made. The study was designed in a prospective randomized manner. Group GA (n=10) donors had general anesthesia for donor nephrectomy. In each of these donor operations, anesthesia was induced with thiopental, vecuronium, and fentanyl. Maintenance was achieved with isoflurane and N2O/O2. Group CSE (n=10) donors had undergone combined spinal-epidural anesthesia for their nephrectomies. The loss-of-resistance method was used to locate the epidural space at L4-5, and 3.5 mL 0.5% heavy bupivacaine was administered intrathecally. No epidural bolus was given, but 10 mL/h infusion of 0.25% bupivacaine containing 2.5 µg/mL fentanyl was started via the epidural catheter. Blood biochemistry data were collected on preoperatively and postoperatively. We also assessed renal function by scintigraphy on preoperatively and postoperative day 2. Urine levels of microalbumin, creatinine, Na, K, Ca and creatinine clearance rate were measured/calculated in 24-h urine samples collected on preoperatively and postoperative day 2. There were no differences on preoperatively and postoperatively with respect to GFR, microalbuminuria, or creatinine clearance rate (p>0.05 for all). There were also no differences between the groups with respect to other scintigraphic findings on preoperatively and postoperatively (p>0.05 for all). The results suggest that GA and CSE for donor nephrectomy have similar effects on remaining kidney function in donors.