Ismail R. Saad

Open Partial Nephrectomy for Tumor in a Solitary Kidney: Experience With 400 Cases

PURPOSE We present a series of 400 patients with tumor in a solitary kidney who underwent open surgical partial nephrectomy performed by a single surgeon (ACN) with a primary focus on postoperative long-term kidney function. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 400 patients with sporadic nonfamilial kidney tumors in a solitary kidney underwent open partial nephrectomy between 1980 and 2002. In 323 patients (81%) the contralateral kidney had been surgically removed, while the remaining 77 (19%) had a congenital solitary kidney. Renal insufficiency was present preoperatively in 184 patients (46%). Adverse risk factors for partial nephrectomy were present in a large percent of patients. Intraoperative and postoperative parameters were evaluated at a mean followup of 44 months. RESULTS In the overall series 5 and 10-year cancer specific survival was 89% and 82%, respectively. Surgical complications occurred in 52 patients (13%), most commonly urinary leakage. Early postoperative renal function was achieved in 398 patients (99.5%). Only 2 patients required permanent dialysis postoperatively. Satisfactory long-term renal function was achieved in 382 patients (95.5%). A total of 18 patients had progressed to renal failure a mean of 3.6 years after surgery. Patient age, the amount of renal parenchyma resected, a congenitally absent or atrophic contralateral kidney and the time of contralateral nephrectomy were noted to be significantly associated with postoperative renal function. CONCLUSIONS Open surgical partial nephrectomy can be safely performed in patients with tumor in a solitary kidney. Long-term cancer-free survival with the preservation of renal function can be reliably expected in most of these cases.

Clinicopathological outcomes after radical cystectomy for clinical T2 urothelial carcinoma: further evidence to support the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Study Type – Therapy (case series)
Level of Evidence 4

Renal Transplantations in African Americans: A Single-center Experience of Outcomes and Innovations to Improve Access and Results

OBJECTIVE To report a single-center 10-year experience of outcomes of kidney transplantation in African Americans (AAs) vs Caucasian Americans (CA) and to propose ways in which to improve kidney transplant outcomes in AAs, increased access to kidney transplantation, prevention of kidney disease, and acceptance of organ donor registration rates in AAs. METHODS We compared outcomes of deceased donor (DD) and living donor (LD) renal transplantation in AAs vs CAs in 772 recipients of first allografts at our transplant center from January 1995 to March 2004. For DD and LD transplants, no significant differences in gender, age, body mass index, or transplant panel reactive antibody (PRA) existed between AA and CA recipients. RESULTS Primary diagnosis of hypertension was more common in AA, DD, and LD recipients. Significant differences for DD transplants included Medicaid insurance in 23% AA compared with 7.0% CA (P<.0001) and more frequent diabetes mellitus type 2 in AAs (15% vs 4.1%, P=.0009). Eighty-three percent of AAs had received hemodialysis compared with 72% of CAs (P=.02). AAs endured significantly longer pretransplant dialysis (911±618 vs 682±526 days CA, P=.0006) and greater time on the waiting list (972±575 vs 637±466 days CA, P<0001). In DD renal transplants, AAs had more human leukocyte antigen (HLA) mismatches than CAs (4.1±1.4 vs 2.7±2.1, P<.0001). Mean follow-up for survivors was 7.1±2.5 years. Among LD transplants, graft survival and graft function were comparable for AAs and CAs; however, among DD transplants, graft function and survival were substantially worse for AAs (P=.0003). In both LD and DD transplants, patient survival was similar for AAs and CAs. CONCLUSION Our data show that AAs receiving allografts from LDs have equivalent short- and long-term outcomes to CAs, but AAs have worse short- and long-term outcomes after DD transplantation. As such, we conclude that AAs should be educated about prevention of kidney disease, the importance of organ donor registration, the merits of LD over DD, and encouraged to seek LD options.

KIDNEY CANCER AND COMPETING CAUSES OF MORTALITY: AN AGE-BASED POPULATION STUDY

patients. Recent data suggest that the development of metastatic disease is uncommon during active surveillance of SRMs over 3 to 5 years. Here we evaluate competing causes of non-cancer and cancer based death and compare these to death rates from RCC in age matched patients. METHODS: Mortality and survival rates in the United States were determined from the National Vital Statistics Reports. Patients