Purpose: Radical nephroureterectomy (RNU) is a standard treatment for upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma. However, RNU can result in decreased renal function and cannot be treated with adjuvant chemotherapy. We performed a risk group stratification analysis to determine the preoperative factors that are predictive of diminished renal function after RNU.
Materials and methods: We retrospectively evaluated the medical records of all patients who underwent nephroureterectomy for upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital from 2001 to 2008. We analyzed the association between perioperative glomerular filtration rate and preoperative parameters including cancer characteristics, serum creatinine level, and kidney size measured on computed tomographic images.
Results: A total of 242 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The average decrease in renal function 1 month after RNU was 19.7%. Using 60 mL/min/1.73 m(2) as the eligibility cutoff for cisplatin-based chemotherapy, 42.1% of the population was eligible prior to nephroureterectomy, whereas following surgery only 15.2% remained eligible. Using a cutoff of 45 mL/min/1.73 m(2), 59.9% of the cohort was eligible for fractionated cisplatin dosing preoperatively, whereas only 32.6% remained above the cutoff postoperatively. The most significant predictors of poor postoperative renal function were body mass index >25 kg/m(2), age >65 years, contralateral kidney length less than 10 cm, and absence of ipsilateral hydronephrosis.
Conclusion: Our results suggest that older age, higher body mass index, smaller contralateral renal length, and absence of ipsilateral hydronephrosis are predictive of decreased renal function after RNU.
Keywords: adjuvant chemotherapy; carcinoma; kidney; transitional cell; upper tract urothelial carcinoma.