A history of partial nephrectomy for renal tumors.
OBJECTIVE
This article records the history of nephron sparing surgery for renal tumors.


METHODS
Multiple biomedical databases were queried. Original sources were reviewed to document the history of partial nephrectomy.


RESULTS
For more than a century partial nephrectomy evolved as treatment for renal tumors, first by accident, then rejected as a planned procedure in favor of radical nephrectomy, later in mandatory cases of solitary kidney, poor renal function or bilateral renal tumors and then to an accepted elective procedure in cases with a healthy opposite kidney. Partial nephrectomy became widely accepted only recently for many renal tumors due to parallel advances in tumor biology, radiological imaging and surgical technology.


CONCLUSIONS
The history of partial nephrectomy is a timely story setting important precedents for understanding current and future strategies to treat changing patterns of renal neoplasms.
Herr
Harry W
HW
Department of Urology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10021, USA. herrh@mskcc.org
D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000266:history* / Q000601:surgery; D009392:Nephrectomy / Q000266:history* / Q000379:methods