Open surgical partial nephrectomy.

The goals of conservative resection of renal cell carcinoma are complete local surgical removal of the malignancy and preservation of adequate renal function. This is a delicate balance, which makes renal preserving surgery at times both challenging and controversial. Surgical management of renal cell carcinoma remains the most effective curative management. The increased use of cross-sectional imaging has led to an increased detection of incidental renal cell carcinomas at an earlier stage. The indications of nephron-sparing surgery (NSS) have evolved in the past decade. Clinically, there are scenarios where nephron-sparing surgery is absolutely indicated. However, in the setting of a normal contralateral kidney, radical nephrectomy is still considered by many to be the treatment of choice for localized renal cell carcinoma. There is now growing evidence that in the correct patient, the use of NSS in the above-mentioned situation is justified. Very recent data indicate that NSS provides effective and equivalent oncologic treatment for most renal cell carcinomas especially those 4 cm or smaller. Refined surgical techniques and new studies regarding the earlier diagnosis and biology of renal cell carcinoma, true incidence of occult multifocality, and comparable morbidity with radical nephrectomy make NSS an attractive tool in the armamentarium of the urologic surgeon.