Nephron sparing surgery for De Novo kidney graft tumor: results from a multicenter national study.

Nephron sparing surgery (NSS) results in the transplanted population remain unknown because they are only presented in small series or case reports. Our objective was to study renal sparing surgery for kidney graft renal cell carcinomas (RCC) in a multicenter cohort. Data were collected from 32 French transplantation centers. Cases of renal graft de novo tumors treated as RCC since the beginning of their transplantation activity were included. Seventy-nine allograft kidney de novo tumors were diagnosed. Forty-three patients (54.4%) underwent renal sparing surgery. Mean age of grafted kidneys at the time of diagnosis was 47.5 years old (26.1-72.6). The mean time between transplantation and tumor diagnosis was 142.6 months (12.2-300). Fifteen tumors were clear cell carcinomas (34.9%), and 25 (58.1%) were papillary carcinomas. Respectively, 10 (24.4%), 24 (58.3%) and 8 (19.5%) tumors were Fuhrman grade 1, 2 and 3. Nine patients had postoperative complications (20.9%) including four requiring surgery (Clavien IIIb). At the last follow-up, 41 patients had a functional kidney graft, without dialysis and no long-term complications. NSS is safe and appropriate for all small tumors of transplanted kidneys with good long-term functional and oncological outcomes, which prevent patients from returning to dialysis.

De novo kidney graft tumors: results from a multicentric retrospective national study.

De novo tumors in renal allografts are rare and their prevalence is underestimated. We therefore analyzed renal cell carcinomas arising in renal allografts through a retrospective French renal transplant cohort. We performed a retrospective, multicentric survey by sending questionnaires to all French kidney transplantation centers. All graft tumors diagnosed after transplantation were considered as de novo tumors. Thirty-two centers participated in this study. Seventy-nine tumors were identified among 41 806 recipients (Incidence 0.19%). Patients were 54 men and 25 women with a mean age of 47 years old at the time of diagnosis. Mean tumor size was 27.8 mm. Seventy-four (93.6%), 53 (67%) and 44 tumors (55.6%) were organ confined (T1-2), low grade (G1-2) and papillary carcinomas, respectively. Four patients died of renal cell carcinomas (5%). The mean time lapse between transplantation and RCC diagnosis was 131.7 months. Thirty-five patients underwent conservative surgery by partial nephrectomy (n = 35, 44.3%) or radiofrequency (n = 5; 6.3%). The estimated 5 years cancer specific survival rate was 94%. Most of these tumors were small and incidental. Most tumors were papillary carcinoma, low stage and low grade carcinomas. Conservative treatment has been preferred each time it was feasible in order to avoid a return to dialysis.

Nephron sparing surgery is a feasible and efficient treatment of T1a renal cell carcinoma in kidney transplant: a prospective series from a single center.

PURPOSE: Renal cell carcinoma in a renal graft is a rare condition whose incidence will increase in the future. To our knowledge no standardized treatment has been established for this disease. We performed a prospective study of nephron sparing surgery for small renal cell carcinoma in renal grafts. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From January 2002 to December 2006, 2,050 renal graft recipients were followed at our transplantation center. Of these patients 7 were diagnosed with histologically confirmed renal cell carcinoma in the renal graft, 5 of whom presented with T1a renal cell carcinoma and prospectively underwent nephron sparing surgery. RESULTS: Five patients with 15 to 30 mm (median 20) renal cell carcinoma were included in the study and were treated with nephron sparing surgery. Median operative time was 110 minutes (range 60 to 150). Blood loss was less than 200 ml in each case. All tumors were pT1aN0M0 with negative margins. No postoperative complications were observed (hemorrhage, urinary fistulas, renal failure). Preoperative immunosuppressive treatment was not modified postoperatively. At 3 months after nephron sparing surgery and at a mean of 17.4 months of followup (range 5 to 54) no significant impairment of renal function or recurrence was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Nephron sparing surgery is a safe and efficient procedure for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma in renal grafts, resulting in the preservation of renal function and in short-term cancer control.