Partial Nephrectomy in pT3a Tumors Less Than 7 cm in Diameter Has a Superior Overall Survival Compared to Radical Nephrectomy

Objectives We conducted this study to analyze the survival rates of patients with advanced renal tumors <7 cm in diameter treated surgically by partial nephrectomy (PN) compared to those who received radical nephrectomy (RN). Material and methods We retrospectively analyzed clinical data from 55 consecutive patients from our institutional database with T3a renal cell carcinoma of <7 cm treated surgically either by PN (n = 38) or RN (n = 17) in the Department of Urology of Ludwig Maximilians University from January 2006 to August 2014. The overall survival (OS) rates were calculated according to Kaplan-Meier estimation. Results The median age of the population was 67.9 years (range: 39.4 to 87.9 years). The median blood loss was 164.1 ml (range: 0 to 1200 ml), and the median clamping time was 8.85 minutes (range: 0 to 38 minutes). On average, the surgery lasted for 118 minutes (range: 40 to 210 minutes). The median serum creatinine level measured was 1.2 mg/dl (range: 0.7 to 2.3 mg/dl) preoperatively, and 1.4 mg/dl (range: 0.7 to 4.3 mg/dl) postoperatively. The median creatinine serum level measured during follow up was 1.4 ng/ml in individuals with a PN (range: 0.7 to 3.2 ng/ml), and 1.5 ng/ml in those with an RN (range: 0.9 to 4.3 ng/ml). Patients with an RN had a median OS of 38.6 months (range: 0 to 63.3 months). The median OS for patients with a PN was not reached after a follow-up of 80 months. The difference in OS in patients with PN and RN was statistically significant (P < 0.005). Conclusion Performing a PN in T3a tumors leads to better survival rates compared to an RN. In tumors <7cm, cT3a does not seem to be a contraindication for a PN. Further data should be analyzed to prove this survival benefit in a larger, multi-institutional cohort.