Laparoscopic nephrectomy for Wilms' tumor: Can we expand on the current SIOP criteria?

Wilms' tumor now has a good overall prognosis with open radical nephrectomy having been the mainstay of surgical treatment. Recently laparoscopic nephrectomy (LN) has been growing in popularity. The aim of our study was to review our indications and outcomes for laparoscopic resections for Wilms' tumor and compare indications with International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP) criteria for LN.

Patient demographics, preoperative management, surgical data, respect of SIOP criteria, complications, disease outcome, and follow-up were recorded on consecutive children who underwent nephrectomy for Wilms' tumor.

Fifty-four consecutive children with Wilms' tumor underwent a nephrectomy; 20 had a LN (Table). Nine of 20 (45%) patients who had LN did not meet SIOP criteria for LN. No patients had an intraoperative tumor rupture and one patient had positive margins because of preoperative rupture. There were two conversions: one caused by difficulty accessing the renal hilum and the other caused by difficulty maintaining oxygen saturations. There was one local recurrence.

SIOP criteria are conservative and safe. Indications can be extended for teams experienced in surgical oncology and laparoscopy after agreement at a multidisciplinary meeting (MDM).