Predictors of the immediate results of thrombectomy in kidney cancer patients with venous tumor thrombosis

Objective: to identify the predictors of perioperative complications and deaths in surgically treated patients with kidney cancer complicated by venous tumor thrombosis.

Subjects and methods. The investigation included data on 463 kidney cancer patients with venous tumor thrombosis. The patients, median age was 57 years. The male / female ratio was 2.5:1. Perirenal, subhepatic, retrohepatic, and supradiaphragmatic tumor thrombi were diagnosed in 161 (34.8 %), 135 (29.2 %), 82 (17.7 %), and 85 (18.3 %) patients, respectively. Regional and distant metastases occurred in 90 (19.4 %) and 145 (31.3 %) cases, respectively. All the patients underwent thrombectomy, retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy; a tumor-affected kidney was removed in 452 (97.6 %) patients.

Results. Median surgery duration was 259 (30–580) min; median blood loss was 3500 (100–27 000) ml. The incidence of intraoperative complications was 24.6 % (114 / 463); mortality was 0.9 % (4 / 463). The independent risk factors of intraoperative complications were cranial margin of a tumor thrombus (odds ratio (OR) 1.9; 95 % CI 1.4–2.6; p < 0.0001) and circular resection of the inferior vena cava (OR 5.8; 95 % CI 1.2–27.8; p < 0.0001). The incidence of postoperative complications was 25.7 % (118 / 459);
mortality was 6.0 % (28 / 459). Resurgery was required in 31 (6.8 %) cases. Regression analysis identified the risk factors of postoperative complications (highly located cranial thrombus margin (OR 2.6; 95 % CI 1.1–6.4; p = 0.037) and lactate acidosis (OR
27.1; 95 % CI 1.2–613.1; p = 0.038), postoperative death (hepatic vein thrombosis (OR 15.6; 95 % CI 4.5–54.3; p < 0.0001),
lactate acidosis (OR 23.1; 95 % CI 3.4–158.4; p = 0.001) thrombus removal from the heart (OR 5.0; 95 % CI 2.1–12.2; p < 0.0001)),
perioperative death (cranial thrombus margin (OR 1.9; 95 % CI 1.2–3.2); р = 0.007), contralateral renal vein thrombosis (O R 4.4;
95 % CI 1.2–15.8; p = 0.025), lactate acidosis (OR 28.4; 95 % CI 4.9–165.1; p < 0.0001), and low creatinine clearance (OR 4.6;
95 % CI 1.9–24.9; p = 0.017).

Conclusion. Thrombectomy in patients with T3a–cNxMx kidney cancer is a technically difficult intervention associated with the high incidence of complications and death, which must be performed only in specialized centers. The identified risk factors may serve as criteria for predicting the results of thrombectomy.

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