Purpose: To assess long-term oncologic outcomes in patients with renal pelvic cancer who are receiving nephrectomy plus endoscopy-assisted intussusception ureterectomy. There has been no large study reporting long-term oncologic outcomes of this approach in comparison with those of conventional nephroureterectomy plus bladder cuff removal.
Patients and Methods: We reviewed 181 consecutive patients with renal pelvic cancer who underwent open nephroureterectomy with complete bladder cuff removal (cuff removal group, n = 33), nephroureterectomy with incomplete cuff removal (orifice-remaining group, n = 39), and nephrectomy with intussusception ureterectomy (intussusception group, n = 109).
Results: Patients in the intussusception group had larger tumor size, higher histologic grade, and more advanced pathologic stage (P = 0.005, 0.021, and 0.030, respectively), while the incidence of coexistent bladder/ureteral cancer was lower in this group (P < 0.001). The mean operative time was shorter in the intussusception group than in the cuff removal and orifice-remaining groups (201.2 +/- 33.1 and 221.5 +/- 47.2 min, respectively, P < 0.001). The 5-year extraurinary tract recurrence-free survival rate in the intussusception and cuff removal groups was 74.8% and 71.4%, respectively (log-rank P = 0.766), and it was lower in the orifice-remaining group compared with that in the intussusception group (P = 0.031). The 5-year urinary tract recurrence-free survival rate in the intussusception, cuff removal, and orifice-remaining groups was 76.6%, 65.0%, and 65.0%, respectively (intussusception vs cuff removal: P = 0.089). With both univariate and multivariate analyses, intussusception ureterectomy had no significant impact on urinary tract recurrence (multivariate P = 0.553, hazard ratio = 0.784).
Conclusions: Nephrectomy plus endoscopy-assisted intussusception ureterectomy is an oncologically safe alternative for renal pelvic cancer patients, which is possibly associated with less patient morbidity.