[Concepts in surgical therapy of kidney cancer]

Three new aspects of the operative treatment of renal cell carcinoma can be made out: 1. for the removal of tumor thrombus extending to the right atrium, the surgical technique of choice involves whole-body hypothermia and extra-corporeal circulation. Only in this way can these tumors be removed completely under good vision. 2. Provided the patient's contralateral kidney is healthy, even small peripheral renal tumors should be submitted to radical nephrectomy. The rate of concomitant small tumors is reported to be as high as 20, while the recurrent rate associated with local incision is just on 7%, and the risk of carcinomas developing in the contralateral kidney is only 1.8-3.8%. 3. Radical nephrectomy for tumor should continue to include the ipsilateral adrenal gland. Although in our own patients the incidence of simultaneous adrenal metastasis was only 1.4%, if the adrenal gland is left in situ, part of the renal capsule also has to be left behind, and the upper pole of the kidney dissected free, with the associated risk of disseminating tumor cells.