Nephrectomy and IVC thrombectomy in renal cancer: a narrative review

Renal cell carcinoma accounts for two to three percent of adult malignancies and can lead to inferior vena cava (IVC) thrombosis. This condition can decrease the rate of 5-year survival for patients to 60%. The treatment of choice in such cases is radical nephrectomy and inferior vena cava thrombectomy. This surgery is one of the most challenging due to many perioperative complications. There are many controversial methods reported in the literature. Achieving the free of tumor IVC wall and the possibility of thrombectomy in cases of level III and level IV IVC thrombosis are two essential matters previously advocated open approaches. Nevertheless, open approaches are being replaced by minimally invasive techniques despite the difficulty of the surgical management of IVC thrombectomy. This paper aims to review recent evidence about new surgical methods and a comparison of open, laparoscopic, and robotic approaches. In this review, we present the latest surgical strategies for IVC thrombectomy and compare open and minimally invasive approaches to achieve the optimal surgical technique. Due to the different anatomy of the left and right kidneys and variable extension of venous thrombosis, we investigate surgical methods for left and right kidney cancer and each level of IVC venous thrombosis separately.