Purpose: Laparoscopic radical nephrectomy (LRN) is emerging as a standard approach for low stage renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Some suggest that specimen morcellation for extraction results in less morbidity and a faster recovery. However, morcellation may preclude accurate pathological staging and may hinder precise pathological grading. With pathological evaluation of an intact specimen we identified patients harboring high risk disease that was not anticipated preoperatively, defined as pT2 high grade (G3-4) or lesions greater than pT2.
Materials and methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records of 192 patients who underwent LRN for renal lesions at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center between April 2002 and April 2004.
Results: A total of 192 patients underwent LRN for presumed RCC. In all cases specimens were removed intact. Of these cases 137 were cT1/T2 N0 M0 and had a final pathological diagnosis of RCC. All surgical margins were negative. Of the 137 patients 40 (29.2%) were at increased risk for recurrence based on high risk features. Specifically up staging from cT1-2 to pT3 disease occurred in 30 patients (21.9%) while 12 patients (8.8%) were found to have pT2 G3-4 disease. All 40 patients with high risk disease underwent more intensive surveillance and 17 (43%) participated in adjuvant systemic therapy trials.
Conclusions: In our study 21.9% of patients with clinical T1-2 disease were pathologically up staged and 29.2% were identified as being at high risk for recurrence after intact specimen extraction for localized RCC. These patients are candidates for more intensive followup treatment and may benefit from enrollment in adjuvant therapy protocols.