Surgical Treatment of Completely Endophytic Renal Tumor: a Systematic Review

An endophytic renal tumor represents a special surgical challenge in terms of location and safe removal. For this reason we wanted to review the existing literature on this subject.

In high-activity robotic centers, robot-assisted partial nephrectomy (RAPN) is a safe and efficacious surgical approach for completely endophytic renal tumors. As research innovation, the application of the radio-guided occult lesion localization technique (ROLL) facilitates the location and complete excision of the tumor during surgery. There are few studies that specifically report the experience with completely endophytic renal tumors. The endophytic tumor is usually smaller than exophytic. Frequently it represents a high complexity value in the different Score systems reported in the last decade. This surgery should be performed by experienced urologists regardless of the surgical approach they prefer (open, laparoscopic, or robotic). It is necessary to develop new techniques for intraoperative easy localization and intraoperative evaluation of surgical margins.