Incidence of local recurrence and port site metastasis after laparoscopic radical nephroureterectomy.

OBJECTIVES

To address the incidence of local recurrence and port site metastasis in patients who underwent laparoscopic radical nephroureterectomy (RNU) for upper tract transitional cell carcinoma (TCC).

METHODS

Between August 1993 and February 2006 116 laparoscopic RNU were performed in 115 patients at our institution. A traditional open excision, a laparoscopic stapler resection or a different approach was used for the management of the distal ureter in 76, 27, and 11 cases, respectively. Clinical follow-up as well as perioperative and pathologic data were retrospectively collected.

RESULTS

Perioperative and pathologic data were available in all 116 cases. Clinical outcomes were available in 107 patients with a mean follow-up of 30.5 months (range 1 to 148). Six patients (5.6%) had a local recurrence develop, including 1 patient with port site metastasis (0.9%) at an average of 5.7 months. In 2 of these patients, violation of the ipsilateral urinary tract was noted perioperatively.

CONCLUSIONS

We report, in this large single-center series of laparoscopic RNU, a low incidence of local recurrence. Our results confirm that a laparoscopic approach to upper tract TCC does not result in a clinically significant increased risk of tumor spillage provided that principles of oncologic surgery are followed.