Elsevier

Urology

Volume 75, Issue 2, February 2010, Pages 271-275
Urology

Renal Cancer
Nephron-sparing Surgery Is Equally Effective to Radical Nephrectomy for T1BN0M0 Renal Cell Carcinoma: A Population-based Assessment

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.urology.2009.04.098Get rights and content

Objectives

To test the effect of nephron-sparing surgery (NSS) vs radical nephrectomy (RN) on cancer-specific mortality (CSM) in patients with T1bN0M0 renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in a population-based cohort. To date, only few series from tertiary care centers supported the use of NSS for T1bN0M0 (range 4-7 cm) RCC.

Methods

The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database allowed us to identify 275 NSS (5.3%) and 4866 RN (94.7%) patients treated for T1bN0M0 RCC between 1988 and 2004. Analyses matched for age, year of surgery, tumor size, and Fuhrman grade addressed the effect of nephrectomy type (NSS vs RN) on CSM.

Results

Five years after surgery, the surviving proportions of NSS and RN patients matched for age, tumor size, and year of surgery were respectively 91.4 and 95.3% and 90.1 and 93.8% in the cohort, where additional matching for Fuhrman grade was performed. Neither of the matched analyses resulted in statistically significant CSM difference (P = .1 and .4) between NSS and RN. Similarly, competing-risks regression analyses based on both matching schemes also failed to reveal statistically significant CSM differences (P = .3 and .3).

Conclusions

Our study represents the largest and the only population-based analysis of cancer control efficacy of NSS vs RN in T1bN0M0 RCC. It indicates that NSS does provide equivalent cancer control relative to RN. In consequence, based on cancer control equivalence, NSS should be given equal consideration to RN in patients with T1bN0M0 lesions.

Section snippets

Material and Methods

Patients diagnosed with primary invasive kidney cancer between 1988 and 2004 were identified within 9 SEER cancer registries. The registries include the Atlanta, Detroit, San Francisco-Oakland, and Seattle-Puget Sound Metropolitan areas, as well as the states of Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, New Mexico, and Utah. Characteristics of the SEER population are comparable with that of the general population of the United States. The 2 kidney cancer diagnostic codes (International Classification of

Results

The selection criteria resulted in the identification of 5141 patients with T1bN0M0 RCC, aged ≥ 18 years, who had malignant renal cortical tumors sized between 4 and 7 cm. Of those patients, 275 (5.4%) underwent NSS and 4866 (94.6%) had a RN.

The 275 NSS patients were matched with 1100 of 4866 available (22.6%) RN cases. Matching was made for age, tumor size, and year of surgery. When Fuhrman grade was added to the other 3 matching variables, 163 (56.5%) of 275 NSS patients could be matched with

Comment

We hypothesized that NSS would result in the same cancer control rate as RN. Our results confirmed our hypothesis and demonstrated a virtual equivalence of CSM after NSS vs RN in 2 distinct analytic approaches: in Cox and in competing-risks regression models. Therefore, based on cancer control outcomes, our findings suggest that in patients with T1bN0M0 lesions, NSS should be given equal consideration as RN.

The current study focused on 275 NSS cases. The sample size substantially exceeds the

Conclusions

In conclusion, despite its limitations, our study strongly suggests that in patients with T1bN0M0 RCC, NSS does provide equivalent cancer control relative to RN. In consequence, NSS should be given equal consideration as RN when surgical treatment options are considered for T1bN0M0 lesions.

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Pierre I. Karakiewicz is partially supported by the University of Montreal Health Center Urology Associates, Fonds de la Recherche en santé du Quebec, the University of Montreal Department of Surgery and the University of Montreal Health Center (CHUM) Foundation.

Maxime Crépel is partially supported by the Association Française d'urologie.

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