Renal – laparoscopy and robotic surgery
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Kidney Cancer
Kidney cancer, also known as renal cancer, is the eighth most common cancer in the UK. Patients may not always have symptoms and kidney cancer is often incidentally detected on scans for unrelated conditions or routine check-ups.
What are the treatment available?
Our department offers surgical treatment for kidney cancer as standard of care. We specialise in renal preservation surgery (partial nephrectomy) for renal masses utilising the the da Vinci® Xi robotic system. In accordance with international guidance, we have adopted this for all T1 (up to 7 cm in size) renal masses, where feasible. Since 2021 we have successfully introduced retroperitoneal (space behind the abdomen/peritoneum) partial nephrectomy where feasible, conferring benefits such as quicker recovery and return to home, fewer complications, and a faster return to work for patients.
We are also participants in clinical trials looking at the feasibility and effectiveness of partial nephrectomy in challenging cases over complete removal of the kidney (PARTIAL Trial), and utilising 3D Reconstruction to enable safe complex partial nephrectomy.
We work in close collaboration with the uroradiology department who perform percutaneous (through the skin) treatments for carefully selected smaller kidney tumours (<3cm) such as percutaneous cryotherapy where the cancer cells are killed by rapid freezing using fine needles.
