Research
The Department of Urology at Mayo Clinic has long been at the forefront of research on kidney disease and tumors that require surgical removal (nephrectomies) — both complete removal of the kidney (radical nephrectomy) and kidney-sparing surgery (partial nephrectomy).
In a recent review and analysis of eight studies involving more than 2,200 people, Mayo Clinic researchers found that surgery significantly increased life expectancy for many patients with late-stage kidney cancer. Renal cell carcinoma patients who had surgery to completely remove secondary tumor growth, called metastases, had significantly improved survival compared with patients with metastases who did not have the surgery.
This research confirms the importance of complete removal of the metastases, when possible, to prolong life. Another Mayo study will evaluate the interaction of surgery and drugs to determine if the combination increases survival even more in people with late-stage kidney cancer whose cancer has spread.
Mayo Clinic research efforts continue to focus on new and novel surgical techniques and nonsurgical options to improve outcomes, increase changes of a cancer cure and improve quality of life.
Publications
See a list of publications by Mayo doctors on nephrectomy and partial nephrectomy on PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine.