Abstract

  Purpose : We aimed to retrospectively investigate the surgical outcomes and postoperative kidney function in patients with clinical T1b renal tumors who underwent robot-assisted and open partial nephrectomies.

  Methods : A propensity score analysis was used to adjust for patient- and tumor-related factors (robot-assisted partial nephrectomy group : 38 patients, open partial nephrectomy group : 38 patients).

  Results : We observed that the estimated blood loss and length of postoperative hospitalization were significantly lower in the robot-assisted partial nephrectomy group (p＝0.0014 and p＝0.0281, respectively). Preservation of the kidney function 12 months after operation was better in the robot-assisted partial nephrectomy group, although the difference was not statistically significant (p＝0.1018).

  Conclusions : As compared with open partial nephrectomy, robot-assisted partial nephrectomy had a more favorable perioperative result and may be associated with better long-term preservation of kidney function after partial nephrectomy.