Nephroblastoma and Laparoscopic Surgery: a Heresy ?

Objective. The aim of this work was to report a multicentric study with a long follow-up to evaluate the laparoscopic radical nephrectomy in children with renal cancer.Material and methods. This was a multicentric study from April 2006 to February 2013 about children who underwent a laparoscopic radical nephrectomy for Wilms’ tumor. The criteria of selection were unilateral small tumors after chemotherapy according the SIOP 2001 protocol, which the medial edge did not cross the lateral edge of the vertebra to allow an easy approach of the renal pedicle; more, the tumor had no extra renal extension, no vena cava thrombosis, no tumoral rupture before treatment and no large lymph nodes metastasis around the great vessels. We reviewed the data of the patients on age, gender, symptoms, size of the tumor before and after chemotherapy, surgical procedure, hospitalization, complications, pathology, and follow-up.Results. Eighteen children were included in this study, from 7 pediatric surgical departments. All except 1 could be treated by laparoscopy because in 1 case the indication was out of the criteria with a tumor crossing the lateral edge of the vertebra. No tumoral rupture occurred and the postoperative course was uneventful except 1 with ileal perforation treated by laparoscopy. The mean hospital stay was 2,8 days (2-10). The pathologic examination showed 17 Wilms’ tumors and 1 clear cell sarcoma. With a mean follow-up of 43.6 months after laparoscopic radical nephrectomy, 17 children had no oncologic complications (local recurrence, port-site metastasis or secondary pulmonary metastasis) and 1 had a local recurrence without intraoperative tumoral rupture. No small bowel obstruction occurred.Conclusion. The laparoscopic radical nephrectomy in children for Wilms’ tumor or other renal cancer can be safely performed in case of small tumor and in the hand of trained laparoscopic surgeons, but prospective studies and controls are absolutely necessary. The main motivations are to diminish the risk of small bowel obstruction and to improve the cosmetic results on the abdominal wall, thus contributing to diminish the sequels of Wilms’ tumor treatment.