The Kidney Cancer Surgery

The kidney cancer surgery known as radical nephrectomy, which is the removal of a kidney that has renal cell carcinoma tumor(s) on or in it, was the medical standard for treating kidney cancer. As urologic surgery evolved urology surgeons started removing just the cancerous kidney tumor instead of the entire kidney. This is known as a partial nephrectomy and the tumor needed to be on the surface of the kidney and 1 ½ inches (4 cm) wide or less to be considered a good candidate for a partial nephrectomy. By performing a partial nephrectomy their patients kept their kidney which left them with better renal function and improved outcomes especially if the other kidney stopped working later in life.

The kidney cancer surgery evolution also included a bump up from an open surgery to laparoscopic surgery which helps renal cell carcinoma patients to have their kidney tumor or their entire kidney removed through small holes in the abdomen verses the large slit that is created with the traditional open nephrectomy or open partial nephrectomy. Laparoscopic surgery allowed the traditional surgeries to become minimally invasive procedures. Kidney cryosurgery (freezing the kidney tumor) also started to be used as another minimally invasive procedure. Once the kidney tumor is frozen twice the entire tumor turns into necrotic tissue. It is the job of the patient’s metabolism to break down the dead tissue that was the cancer and filter it out of the body, this process takes months.

More recently, da Vinci surgery, also known as robotic surgery, has come into vogue. When a partial nephrectomy or radical nephrectomy is performed with a da Vinci surgical system the doctor manipulates laparoscopic instruments with the robot allowing stability, micro-fine movements, a magnified view, and 3d imaging of the surgical site. This is also a minimally invasive procedure which allows for less blood loss, less scaring, quicker recovery time, less pain, and a faster period to get back to your normal schedule.

One of the most recent improvements in kidney cancer surgery is the removal of multiple kidney tumors of any size from the kidney. Only 3% of the urologists in the US have been trained in this new surgery. Statistics show that people that have a radical nephrectomy, removing the entire kidney have a 25% increased risk of cardiac death along with a 17% increased risk if death from any cause. These patients also have better renal function then patients left with only one kidney. Dr. Maximiliano Sorbellini has been trained to perform this multiple tumor partial nephrectomy when he was with the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

The other improvement in nephrectomy surgery is that kidney tumors can be removed with a partial nephrectomy even when they are in the collecting tubes of the kidneys and close to the renal arteries. Dr. Sorbellini is also trained for these surgeries as well. As rare as it is for a surgeon to be trained in all of these complex partial nephrectomies, Dr. Sorbellini is one of the very few urologic surgeons that also performs this complex partial nephrectomy robotically using the da Vinci surgery system.

The kidney cancer surgery has reached a new state of kidney saving cancer removal, with less of a risk of cardiac death or death by any cause. If you have been told that your kidney cancer tumor(s) are too big, or in the wrong place in the kidney, or there are too many of them for a partial nephrectomy, please call 305 822 7227 or make an appointment online with Dr. Sorbellini for a second opinion. As Dr. Sorbellini says, “Today nearly everyone has the ability to save their kidney with a partial nephrectomy.”

<< The Kidney Tests | The Kidney Stone Surgery >>