Isolated local recurrence of renal cell carcinoma after radical nephrectomy: experience with 10 cases.
OBJECTIVE
Isolated local recurrence of renal cell carcinoma after radical nephrectomy is very uncommon and the effect of aggressive surgical management of this clinical entity remains controversial. We report our experience with 10 such cases.


METHODS
Between 1994 and 2002, 10 patients with isolated local recurrence of renal cell carcinoma without any evidence of metastatic disease after radical nephrectomy were treated at our department. The mean patient age was 51.7 years (range 26 to 74); 7 patients were men and 3 were women. All patients underwent extensive surgery for local recurrence.


RESULTS
Only 3 patients were symptomatic, and the others were diagnosed during routine follow-up examinations. The mean time to local recurrence was 33.6 months (range 3 to 68), and the mean size of the recurrent tumor was 8.45 cm (range 3 to 12). An aggressive surgical approach was taken in all patients. One patient died in the postoperative period because of a surgical complication. Of the remaining 9 patients, 2 died of metastatic disease after a mean survival of 8.5 months (range 3 to 14). Seven patients were alive with a mean survival of 16.6 months (range 3 to 38+).


CONCLUSIONS
We believe that patients with isolated local recurrence after radical nephrectomy may benefit from an aggressive surgical approach, but this kind of surgery may also have significant complications.
Department of Urology, Ankara University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
Cağatay
C
Göğüş
Sümer
S
Baltaci
Yaşar
Y
Bedük
Savaş
S
Sahinli
Sadettin
S
Küpeli
Orhan
O
Göğüş
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002292:Carcinoma, Renal Cell / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000401:mortality / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000401:mortality; D015996:Survival Rate; D014463:Ultrasonography