Experience with fossa recurrence of renal cell carcinoma

We describe the surgical management and followup of 11 patients with local recurrence of renal cell carcinoma in the renal fossa, 10 of whom demonstrated no evidence of distant metastatic disease at the time of recurrence. Average interval to recurrence was 31 months from nephrectomy, with the majority of patients presenting with symptoms of weight loss, fatigue and lumbar discomfort. A total of 13 resections of recurrent carcinoma was performed with 3 immediate postoperative complications, including a retroperitoneal abscess, jejunal necrosis requiring resection and a duodenal obstruction requiring duodenojejunostomy. There were 2 postoperative deaths, 2 patients died of disseminated disease at 8 and 22 months, and 3 died of causes unrelated to cancer recurrence at 4 months, 6 months and 10 years. Four patients were without disease at a followup of 35, 46, 48 and 211 months. We include in this review a report on 1 patient who maintains a disease-free survival of 17 years after resection of a recurrent spindle cell carcinoma. We conclude that an aggressive surgical approach to recurrent renal cell carcinoma within the renal fossa can produce long-term disease-free survival and is justified when compared to the results reported for chemotherapy.