Partial nephrectomy for the treatment of translocation renal cell carcinoma

The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcome of patients with translocation renal cell carcinoma (RCC) treated with partial nephrectomy.

Our institutional review board-approved renal mass registry was queried for patients who underwent partial nephrectomy for a pathologically confirmed translocation RCC. We describe the demographic, clinical, pathological, and follow-up data for this series of patients.

Between 2003 and 2013, 1897 patients with RCC were treated at our institution with a radical or partial nephrectomy. In total, 10 (0.5%) patients were diagnosed with a translocation RCC. Of these patients, 4 (40%) underwent treatment with partial nephrectomy for an incidentally detected small renal mass (mean imaging diameter, 2.6 cm [range, 1.0-4.2 cm]). During a mean follow-up of 37 months (range, 8-81 months), all patients were alive without evidence of disease.

At short-term follow-up, partial nephrectomy appears to be an effective treatment option for patients with small translocation RCCs. Larger studies are required to more extensively investigate the optimal treatment of these potentially aggressive tumors.