Introduction
Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is one of the most common cancer in western countries with a rate of approximately 3% among all cancers. Partial nephrectomy (PN) also known as nephron-sparing surgery is recommended in small size tumors due to its contribution to renal functions (RFs) with similar oncological results with radical nephrectomy (RN)[1]. The utilization of PN has become widespread, especially with the increase in the diagnosis of small size tumors.
Recently, the use of PN has also been increasing in high-risk kidney tumors due to its contribution to morbidity and mortality by reducing deterioration in RFs [2,3]. The main expectations of an ideal PN are surgical margin negativity, minimal deterioration in RF, and any surgical complication [4,5].
Minimally invasive techniques such as laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LPN) and robot-assisted partial nephrectomy (RPN) are superior to open partial nephrectomy (OPN) in terms of shorter length of hospital stays (LOS), less postoperative pain and better cosmetic results[6]. Although studies have reported that RPN is superior to LPN in parameters such as short operation time (OT), low warm ischemia time (WIT), and fewer changes in RF, there is no complete consensus in this regard. Also the number of studies with long term oncologic and functional outcomes between RPN and LPN is limited.
In this study, we aimed to compare the renal functional changes between the LPN and RPN at 1 year after the surgery as a primary endpoint, then compare the perioperative variables and survival rates during the follow-up period.