Laparoscopic radical surgery produces a good prognosis in an elderly patient with small Wilms' tumor

Renal nephroblastoma, also known as Wilms' tumor, is the most common malignant renal tumor to affect children. Although rare in adults, nephroblastoma in adults is often found in its advanced stages and has a poorer prognosis than cases occurring in childhood. No report has described the efficacy of laparoscopic surgery in small diameter renal tumors in elderly patients.

Here, we report a very rare case of 71-year-old woman with asymptomatic small nephroblastoma removed by laparoscopic radical nephrectomy.

The patient refused additional treatments but shows no sign of recurrence 15 months after surgery. These findings support, therefore, that laparoscopic surgery may be effective for small nephroblastoma in elderly patients refusing other treatment modalities.