Laparoscopic Renal Cancer Surgery

Renal tumor surgeries are planned according to patient age, general health status, and the invasiveness of the tumor. Different treatment modalities are currently in use, but for a localized renal cancer, the gold-standard treatment is surgery.

‘Nephrectomy’ is the surgery aimed at taking the kidney out of human body. As a classical method, nephrectomies can be performed as open surgery, but nowadays higher patient comfort and lower complications support laparoscopic methods. Type of pathology, stage, size, location and the number of tumors are decisive for the type of the surgery.

For larger renal tumors, kidney is dissected with its surrounding fat tissue (gerota fascia) and even sometimes with adrenal gland. This method is called ‘radical nephrectomy’.For small renal masses, ‘partial nephrectomy’ is preferred where only the renal mass is dissected and taken out from the body while the remaining kidney is spared.

Nowadays, an increasing trend is ‘Robotic Surgical Method’ for various laparoscopic operations. As robotic surgery still costs a lot, reconstruction-dependent surgeries like Radical Prostatectomy, Radical Cystectomy, Pyeloplasty and Partial Nephrectomy need to be taken into consideration. For other surgeries, laparoscopy is the most-preferred method.

Laparoscopy and open surgery are in the same field of surgery but they are performed according to different methods. During a laparoscopy, the surgeon cannot touch the site of surgery and cannot feel the tension. The surgeon can touch the tissues via long rods of 30 cm while following the monitor. Therefore, s/he needs a great hand-eye coordination and precision. Main point for a successful laparoscopic surgery is the need for experience in this field.