Purpose: Partial nephrectomy has been persuaded as a widely accepted surgical procedure for T1a (≤ 4 cm) renal tumors. However, when treating T1b (4-7 cm) renal cell carcinoma (RCC), the "optimal" method of surgery is still debatable. The aim of the research is to evaluate the long-term oncological and renal functional outcomes of laparoscopic radical nephrectomy (LRN) versus laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LPN) for patients with T1b RCC.
Materials and methods: From March 1, 2003 to July 1, 2016, 331 patients were included in the current study. Patients presented with unilateral T1b RCC and underwent either LPN (n = 177) or LRN (n = 154). Relevant clinical data including follow-ups were acquired from patients.
Results: The operation time of the LPN group patients was longer than that of LRN group (94.3 min vs 88.3 min, p = 0.021) and LPN group patients required shorter stays in hospital (11.5 days vs. 13.4 days, p = 0.009). Contrast to LRN, level of eGFR was superior in LPN at the postoperative time of 1 day, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months and 24 months (all p < 0.001). Kaplan-Meier plots and log-rank tests showed that patients undergoing LPN had a much higher overall survival (OS) (p = 0.007), cancer-specific survival (CSS) (p = 0.006) and metastasis-free survival (MFS) (p = 0.008) than those receiving LRN. In comparison with the LRN group, multivariable Cox analysis indicated that patients of the LPN group had a 1.9-fold OS, 2.9-fold CSS and 2.3-fold MFS.
Conclusions: For patients with T1b RCC, our findings revealed that OS, CSS and MFS are superior in patients receiving LPN than those treated with LRN. With the benefit of preserving renal function of LPN, which leads a less incidence risk of other systematic diseases, LPN may be the preferred option when condition permits for cases involving T1b RCC.
Keywords: Partial nephrectomy; Radical nephrectomy; Renal function; Survival; T1b renal cell carcinoma.