Removing Kidney for Tumor May Boost Risk

A U.S. study suggests that surgeons treating younger patients with kidney tumors should remove the tumor but otherwise leave the kidney intact.

The Mayo Clinic report, published in the Journal of Urology, said removing the entire kidney from younger patients with small kidney tumors may lead to decreased overall survival, compared with an operation that removes the tumor but leaves the kidney intact, the clinic said Thursday in a release.

For patients with small kidney tumors, removal of the entire kidney may be associated with long-term consequences that we did not previously recognize when compared to removal of just the tumor, lead author Dr. R. Houston Thompson said.

Thompson said the risk of heart attacks and heart-related events goes up as kidney function declines.

In a review of cases involving 327 patients under age 65, the 10-year overall survival rate was 82 percent for patients treated with a radical nephrectomy — removal of the entire kidney along with the adrenal gland that sits atop it and adjacent lymph nodes. The rate was 93 percent for patients treated with a partial nephrectomy.