Simple Enucleation for the Treatment of PT1a Renal Cell Carcinoma: Our 20-Year Experience

Objectives To evaluate the safety and efficacy of simple enucleation as a conservative treatment for pT1a RCC, and to report on the incidence of major complications, local recurrence, and progression-free and disease-specific survival rates. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the data of 232 patients who had nephron-sparing surgery (NSS) by simple enucleation between 1986 and 2004 for sporadic, unilateral, pathologically confirmed pT1a RCC. The patients' status was evaluated last in September 2005. The mean (median, range) follow-up was 76 (61, 12–225) months. Results The mean (SD, median, range) tumor greatest dimension was 2.8 (0.78, 2.85, 0.6–4) cm. The histopathologic review according to the International Union Against Cancer and American Joint Commission for Cancer (1997) classification revealed 198 clear cell (85.3%), 18 papillary (7.8%), 15 chromophobe (6.5%) and one (0.4%) collecting duct RCCs. There were no major complications, such as prolonged acute tubular necrosis/chronic renal insufficiency and bleeding requiring open reoperation. One patient developed postoperative late retroperitoneal fluid collection consistent with urinoma, which required aspiration, drainage position and JJ stenting for 3 weeks. The 5- and 10-year cancer-specific survival were 96.7% and 94.7%, respectively. The 5- and 10-year progression-free survival were 96% and 94%, respectively. Overall, 13 (6.4%) patients had disease progression, three of whom had local recurrences alone (1.5%) elsewhere in the kidney; none had local recurrence at the level of the enucleation bed. Conclusions Simple tumor enucleation is a safe and acceptable nephron-sparing treatment that provides excellent long-term local control and cancer-specific survival rates.