Laparoscopic partial nephrectomy: a review

Surgical treatment of renal cell carcinoma has evolved dramatically in the last 10 years. With the improvement of radiological imaging and minimally invasive nephron sparing techniques, more and more lesions can be managed laparoscopically. Stage migration to earlier lesions has followed the wider use of cross sectional tridimensional imaging. Open partial nephrectomy has been the benchmark to which laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LPN) has been compared. In this review we focus on the available recent literature data on LPN and we outline the key surgical points.