Percutaneous transluminal embolization for improved prognosis of renal cell carcinoma--dependence on tumor stages.

The effect of percutaneous transluminal embolization (PTE) on the prognosis of renal cell carcinoma, depending on tumor stage, was retrospectively investigated on 303 patients. The life-table method was used for statistical comparison of survival rates of preoperatively or palliatively embolized patients with those of patients who merely underwent nephrectomy or were symptomatically treated. Preoperative PTE in tumor stages T2 and T3 resulted in extended survival rates, which were statistically significant in T2 cases. Prognosis was also improved in patients who underwent palliative embolization as compared with those patients who were inoperable and received only symptomatic treatment. Prognosis following palliative PTE and delayed nephrectomy was not worse than that following preoperative PTE and immediate nephrectomy.