Purpose:We evaluated oncologic risks in a large cohort of patients with radiographic cystic renal masses who underwent active surveillance or intervention.Materials and Methods:A single-institutional database of 4,340 kidney lesions managed with either active surveillance or intervention between 2000-2020 was queried for radiographically cystic renal masses. Association of radiographic tumor characteristics and high-grade pathology was evaluated.Results:We identified 387 radiographically confirmed cystic lesions in 367 patients. Of these, 247 were resected (n=240) or ablated (n=7; n=247, 203 immediate vs 44 delayed intervention). Pathologically, 23% (n=56) demonstrated high-grade pathology. Cystic features were explicitly described by pathology in only 18% (n=33) of all lesions and in 7% (n=4) of high-grade lesions. Of the intervention cohort, African American race, male gender, and Bosniak score were associated with high-grade pathology (P < .05). On active surveillance (n=184), Bosniak IV lesions demonstrated faster growth rates than IIF and III lesions (2.7 vs 0.6 and 0.5 mm/y, P ≤ .001); however, growth rates were not associated with high-grade pathology (P = .5). No difference in cancer-specific survival was identified when comparing intervention vs active surveillance at 5 years (99% vs 100%, P = .2). No difference in recurrence was observed between immediate intervention vs delayed intervention (P > .9).Conclusions:A disconnect between “cystic” designation on imaging and pathology exists for renal lesions. Over 80% of radiographic Bosniak cystic lesions are not described as “cystic” on pathology reports. More than 1 in 5 resected cystic renal lesions demonstrated high-grade disease. Despite this finding, judiciously managed active surveillance ± delayed intervention is a safe and effective management option for most radiographic cystic renal masses.
Accurate prediction of new baseline GFR (NBGFR) after radical nephrectomy (RN) can inform clinical management and patient counseling whenever RN is a strong consideration. Preoperative global GFR, split renal function (SRF), and renal functional compensation (RFC) are fundamentally important for the accurate prediction of NBGFR post-RN. While SRF has traditionally been obtained from nuclear renal scans (NRS), differential parenchymal volume analysis (PVA) via software analysis may be more accurate. A simplified approach to estimate parenchymal volumes and SRF based on length/width/height measurements (LWH) has also been proposed. We compare the accuracies of these three methods for determining SRF, and, by extension, predicting NBGFR after RN. All 235 renal cancer patients managed with RN (2006–2021) with available preoperative CT/MRI and NRS, and relevant functional data were analyzed. PVA was performed on CT/MRI using semi-automated software, and LWH measurements were obtained from CT/MRI images. RFC was presumed to be 25%, and thus: Predicted NBGFR = 1.25 × Global GFRPre-RN × SRFContralateral. Predictive accuracies were assessed by mean squared error (MSE) and correlation coefficients (r). The r values for the LWH/NRS/software-derived PVA approaches were 0.72/0.71/0.86, respectively (p < 0.05). The PVA-based approach also had the most favorable MSE, which were 120/126/65, respectively (p < 0.05). Our data show that software-derived PVA provides more accurate and precise SRF estimations and predictions of NBGFR post-RN than NRS/LWH methods. Furthermore, the LWH approach is equivalent to NRS, precluding the need for NRS in most patients.
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