Short-term functional and oncologic outcomes of nephron-sparing surgery for renal tumours ≥ 7 cm

Nephron-sparing surgery (NSS) for renal tumours preserves renal function and has become the standard approach for small renal tumours. Little is known about perioperative and oncologic outcomes of patients following NSS in renal tumours ≥ 7 cm in the presence of a healthy contralateral kidney.

To analyse oncologic outcomes and perioperative morbidity in patients treated by NSS for renal tumours ≥ 7 cm.

In total, 5767 patients were treated for renal tumours at two institutions from 1984 to 2009. In 91 patients, elective NSS was performed for renal tumours ≥ 7 cm.

Complication rates were assessed in detail and stratified using the Clavien-Dindo score (CDS). Oncologic outcomes for overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), and progression-free survival (PFS) were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify clinical risk factors for complications and prognosticators that have an oncologic impact on OS.

The median follow-up was 28 mo (range: 1-247 mo). Twenty-seven patients (29.6%) had perioperative complications and, of these, 89.1% had CDS grade 1 and 2. Twenty-seven percent of the 91 patients had benign lesions. Seven patients (10.6%) died from cancer-related causes. The 5- and 10-yr rates for OS, CSS, and PFS were 88% and 64%, 97% and 83%, and 91% and 78%, respectively. None of the analysed parameters had an impact on morbidity or OS in the univariate analysis. Limitations of this study were its retrospective nature and the relatively short follow-up period for oncologic outcome.

NSS for renal tumours ≥ 7 cm can be performed with acceptable complication rates and with oncologic outcomes comparable to radical nephrectomy studies. Our findings support NSS whenever technically feasible to reduce the loss of renal function.