Functional and oncologic outcomes of nephron-sparing surgery (NSS) for patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) greater than 4 cm in diameter.

Abstract

347 Background: Organ preserving surgery represents the guideline recommended surgical treatment of choice for patients with small renal tumors ≤ 4cm in diameter. There are only few data in the literature with regard to the oncological and functional outcome of elective NSS in RCC larger than 4cm. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the charts of all patients who underwent elective NSS for RCC at our institution during 2004-2009. We identified 288 patients of whom 196 (68.1%) patients and 92(31.9%) patients underwent NSS for a tumor < 4cm (group 1) and a tumour ≥ 4cm (group 2), respectively. We analyzed tumor size, TNM-classification, OR time, surgical margins, complications, mortality, recurrences and metastases in both groups. Results: We identified significant differences between group 1 and 2 for the following variables: mean tumor size (2.9 vs. 8.6cm, p = 0.03), necessity for warm ischemia (15.1% vs. 51%, p = 0.001), mean ischemia time (3.5 vs. 10.2 min, p = 0.002), need for endoluminal stenting due to involvement of the renal pelvis (0.5% vs. 24.2%, p = 0.001). Significantly less pT2 (12.7% vs. 29.7%, p = 0.03) and pT3 tumors (8.7% vs. 12%, p = 0.05) were identified in group 1 when compared to group 2. There were no significant differences with regard to mean OR time (61 vs. 74 min), positive surgical margins (1/192 vs. 1/92), hospital stay, and perioperative complications. There were no significant differences with regard to stage specific overall survival, cancer-specific survival and progression-free survival. There was no significant survival difference between NSS and radical nephrectomy. Conclusions: NSS can be safely performed in RCC > 4 cm without increasing the frequency of treatment-associated complications or decreasing cancer-specific survival. NSS should represent the treatment of choice in all patients with RCC of 4-7cm in diameter if technically feasible. No significant financial relationships to disclose.