Safety of left renal vein ligation during circular resection of the inferior vena cava in right-side kidney carcinoma with tumor venous thrombosis

Objective: to assess safety of left renal vein (LRV) ligation during circular resection of the inferior vena cava in right-side kidney carcinoma with tumor venous thrombosis.Materials and methods. We selected medical data of 63 renal cell carcinoma patients with tumor venous invasion undergone nephrectomy, thrombectomy, IVC resection with LRV ligation (Group 1; n = 29 (46.0 %)) or preservation of venous outflow from the contralateral kidney (Group 2; n = 34 (54.0 %)). Median age of study participants was 56.0 + 8.8 years (range: 32—72 years); a male to female ratio was 1:1.9. Such parameters as age, gender, median glomerular filtration rate (GFR), stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD), blood loss, and duration of surgery were comparable across the two groups (р 0.05 for all parameters). Median follow-up was 32.8 months (range: 1—226 months). Results. We observed no significant changes in median GFR in the late postoperative period compared to baseline among patients with ligated LRV (65.7 vs 71.2 mL/min/1.73 m2; р 0.05) and patients with preserved venous outflow from the contralateral kidney (60.6 vs 68.4 mL/min/1.73 m2; р0.5). Patients that underwent LRV ligation were less likely to have reduced GFR compared to those with normal contralateral renal venous outflow (34.5 % vs 44.1 %; p 0.05). However, participants with ligated LRV had CKD upstaging (from stage 0—I to stage I—II) more frequently than participants with preserved venous outflow (27.6 % vs 5.9 %; р = 0.022). None of the patients developed stage III CKD after LRV ligation.Conclusion. LRV ligation during circular resection of the IVC in right-side renal cell carcinoma patients with tumor venous thrombosis does not lead to a clinically significant decrease in long-term deterioration of renal function.