Comparison of Posterior and Antero-Lateral Renal Tumors in Retroperitoneal Laparoscopic Partial Nephrectomy

This study aimed to compare the anterolateral and posterior localized renal masses in laparoscopic partial nephrectomy with the retroperitoneal approach in terms of operative, functional, and oncological outcomes. Patients who underwent retroperitoneal laparoscopic partial nephrectomy by a single surgeon between January 2013 and January 2021 were included in the study. A one-to-one propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was conducted to obtain two balanced groups. The patients were divided into two groups as posterior and anterolateral according to the localization of the mass. A total of 239 patients were included in the PSM analysis, with 65 patients allocated to each group. The mean operative time was 79.2 ± 11.2 min in the posterior group, while it was 90.0 ± 11.6 min in the anterolateral group (P < 0.001). Warm ischemia time was 15.9 ± 2.4 min in the posterior group and 18.6 ± 2.7 min in the anterolateral group (P < 0.001). The median decrease in eGFR at 1 year was 4.8 (IQR, 2.9–6.9) mL/min in the posterior group and 5.0 (IQR, 2.8–11) mL/min in the anterolateral group (P = 0.219). The warm ischemia time and clamping technique were found to be significant factors for predicting eGFR change after surgery (β:0.693, 95% CI: 0.39–0.99, P < 0.001; β:6.43, 95% CI: 1.1–11.7, P = 0.017, respectively). We report that retroperitoneal laparoscopic partial nephrectomy provided longer warm ischemia and operative time for anterolateral renal masses than posterior masses. However, long-term oncological and functional results were similar for both localizations.