THURSDAY, Feb. 9, 2006 (HealthDay News) -- A small tumor in a kidney may not always mean surgeons have to remove the whole organ, researchers report.
At team at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center found that a less aggressive form of treatment, called partial nephrectomy, isn't used often enough to treat early stage kidney cancer, even though many patients are eligible for it.
The procedure, which removes only the cancer and spares the rest of the normal kidney, is associated with improved quality of life and better preservation of long-term kidney function, the scientists noted.
The researchers studied data from 1988 to 2001 on nearly 15,000 people with kidney tumors less than 7 centimeters in size. Of these patients, just 9.6 percent underwent partial nephrectomy, while 90 percent of the patients had their entire kidney removed.
The smaller the kidney tumor, the more likely patients were to receive partial nephrectomy. The less aggressive treatment was used in 40 percent of patients with tumors less than 2 centimeters and in 20 percent of patients with tumors 2 to 4 centimeters, the study said.
There are some disadvantages to kidney-sparing surgery, the researchers noted. Total kidney removal is more likely than partial nephrectomy to be done with minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery, which requires only a small incision and offers quicker recovery than open surgery. While partial nephrectomy can be done using laparoscopic surgery, it is technically difficult and isn't offered at all hospitals.
This may be one reason why total kidney removal is much more common, the researchers said.
"For most surgeons, myself included, partial nephrectomy, whether open or laparoscopic, is likely to be a more difficult operation than removing the entire kidney," study author Dr. David Miller, clinical lecturer in urology at the University of Michigan Medical School, said in a prepared statement.
The study appears in the March issue of the Journal of Urology.
More information
The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about kidney cancer.
