Dr. Blute on Kidney-Sparing Surgery Vs Radical Nephrectomy in RCC

Michael L. Blute, MD, chair of the Department of Urology, Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses the differences between kidney-sparing surgery and radical nephrectomy for patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

It is important to identify the appropriate criteria for which patients can undergo nephrectomy or kidney-sparing surgery for their disease, Blute explains. However, until more information is available, treatments will need to be individualized based on a patient's comorbidities, age, and current kidney function to inform practitioners which procedure would be more beneficial for patients.

There has been a paradigm shift that urologists are facing in order to avoid chronic kidney disease in patients, he adds. The rates of partial nephrectomy for small renal masses, for example, have been doubled.