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Renal Cell Carcinoma with Tumor Thrombus: A Review of Relevant Anatomy and Surgical Techniques for the General Urologist

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Robotic Surgery for Renal Cancer

Part of the book series: Management of Urology ((MU))

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Abstract

Renal cell carcinoma is estimated to account for 4.1% of all new cancer diagnoses and 2.4% of all cancer deaths in 2020 according to the National Cancer Institute SEER database. It is one of the most lethal of the common cancers urologists will encounter with a 5-year relative survival of 75.2% [1]. Renal cell carcinoma is one of a small subset of malignancies that are associated with tumor thrombus formation, which is tumor extension into a blood vessel. An estimated 4–10% of patients with RCC will have some degree of tumor thrombus extending into the renal vein or inferior vena cava at the time of diagnosis [2]. Tumor thrombi change the staging of RCC and therefore are an important part of initial patient workup. Aggressive surgical intervention with radical nephrectomy and thrombectomy can be performed with survival benefits. Therefore, a thorough understanding of the surgical anatomy and approaches for varying levels of RCC tumor thrombus is of utmost importance when treating these patients. Here we aim to review the anatomy associated with each level of tumor thrombus and to construct an outline for surgical techniques that may be used. This will give the general urologist a concise overview so that he or she may use it to understand these potentially complicated cases.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 910 Madison Avenue, Memphis, TN, 38163, USA

    Christian A. Dewan, Joseph P. Vaughan, Ian C. Bennie & Maurizio Buscarini

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  1. Christian A. Dewan
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  2. Joseph P. Vaughan
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  3. Ian C. Bennie
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  4. Maurizio Buscarini
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Correspondence to Christian A. Dewan .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow, UK

    Sanchia S. Goonewardene

  2. North Bristol NHS Trust, Bristol, UK

    Raj Persad

  3. Syracuse, NY, USA

    David Albala

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Dewan, C.A., Vaughan, J.P., Bennie, I.C., Buscarini, M. (2022). Renal Cell Carcinoma with Tumor Thrombus: A Review of Relevant Anatomy and Surgical Techniques for the General Urologist. In: Goonewardene, S.S., Persad, R., Albala, D. (eds) Robotic Surgery for Renal Cancer. Management of Urology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11000-9_23

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11000-9_23

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