[Renal Cell Carcinoma: When is a Partial, Organ-preserving Nephrectomy Possible and Reasonable?]

In Switzerland about 900 people a year are newly diagnosed with a kidney tumour. This is about 3 % of all cancer cases in this country. Because of the abundent diagnostic examinations carried out (MR, CT, US), kidney tumours are often coincidentally found. In recent years the organ-sparing therapy has moved to the foreground for kidney tumours of <4 cm. This is increasingly true for larger lesions of 4–7 cm diameter. Organ-sparing kidney surgery has replaced the radical nephrectomy for tumours up to 7 cm because of the superior post-op quality of Life and the total survival rate. In addition, the control of oncological parameters, maintenance of kidney function, low morbidity and reproducibility of the method are existant and can be achieved using this organ-sparing therapy.