[Pyelonephrostomy as a life-extending measure in terminal cancer]

Between 1975 and 1980 35 patients with incurable carcinomas and bilateral ureteral obstruction who had been fitted with pull-through pyelonephrostomies were retrospectively studied with particular reference to the post-operative quality of their lives. 30 patients who died of the primary diseased had survived for periods of between 14 days and 30 months; the average was 7.5 months. There was no significant correlation between pre-operative kidney function and survival time. The post-operative quality of the lives of the patients who had shown good kidney function before the nephrostomy was fitted was significantly better than that of the patients with bad kidney function.