[Liver resection in locally-spread and metastatic kidney cancer]

The postoperative outcome and survival were studied in patients operated for renal cancer with involvement of the liver. 9 patients have undergone radical nephrectomy and 12 patients--hepatic resections for direct hepatic involvement (2), synchronous (2) and metachronous (8) metastases of renal cell carcinoma. Right hemihepatectomy was performed in 2 and wedge resection in 10 cases. A complete resection was performed in 8 of 9 patients while one patient with direct hepatic invasion was found to have positive surgical margins. Postoperative lethality was absent but complications occurred in 6 patients: pancreatitis (1), pneumonia (3), hepatic abscess (1), hepatic and renal failure followed by GI bleeding (1). At follow-up, two patients died of progressive disease 4 and 68 months after the surgery and one was lost for follow-up. One patient with positive surgical margins is alive with pulmonary and liver metastases 16 months after surgery. Five patients are alive with no evidence of relapse 6, 10, 12, 19 and 56 months after the operation. Thus, the aggressive surgical approach is justified and should be considered in patients with renal cancer and hepatic involvement.