Chronic kidney disease after nephrectomy: a clinically-significant entity?

Worldwide, the kidney is the ninth and 14th most common primary site of cancer in men and women respectively. Surgical management with either radical or partial nephrectomy is the mainstay of treatment. Surgical resection of functional kidney parenchyma is associated with reductions in glomerular filtration rate, and can lead to the development of chronic kidney disease (CKD); however, there is currently debate as to whether CKD secondary to surgical removal of a kidney is of clinical significance. Here, it will be argued that CKD is of clinical significance regardless of aetiology, due to the higher cardiovascular and mortality risk which is associated with low glomerular filtration rate.