[Horseshoe kidney tumor laparoscopic surgery. First 19 cases]

Although horseshoe kidney (HSK) is the most common congenital anomaly of the upper urinary tract, renal cell cancer (RCC) in HSK develops extremely rarely. Until 2012 y. there were less than 200 cases of RCC in HSK published in PubMed. Only five cases of laparoscopic partial nephrectomies and some cases of heminephrectomies have been described in PubMed.

To conduct a multicenter retrospective analysis of laparoscopic surgery for tumors in HSK.

From January 2013 to December 2018 a total of 19 conventional laparoscopic interventions were performed in patients with RCC in HSK, including 1 isthmusectomy, 5 partial nephrectomies and 13 heminefrectomies. In addition, 16 divisions of isthmus were done in 15 patients. The video describing our operation technique is available on: http://youtu.be/nk-WlbjNtIs .

There were no conversions to open surgery and mortality as well as intra- and postoperative complications of Clavien grade 3 or higher. Warm ischemia time during partial nephrectomy didnt exceed 19 minutes. Operative time ranged from 110 to 270 min, while max estimated blood loss was 400 ml. All patients were followed for 6 month and no case of disease recurrence or progression was noted.

The small number of laparoscopic interventions in patients with RCC in HSK doesnt allow to carry out a proper statistical analysis and draw certain conclusions. We presented the largest experience available in the literature and our results demonstrate the efficacy and safety of conventional laparoscopic technologies in the treatment of RCC in HSK.