Quality of life after surgery for localized renal cell carcinoma: comparison between radical nephrectomy and nephron-sparing surgery

To compare the impact of radical nephrectomy and nephron-sparing surgery (NSS) for localized renal cell carcinoma on quality of life (QOL). Retrospectively, 357 patients who had undergone NSS (n = 158) or radical nephrectomy (n = 199) for localized renal cell carcinoma completed postal questionnaires, including measures of QOL with validated instruments (SF-36, European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire C30 [EORTC QLQ-C30]), the impact of the stress of cancer, fear of recurrence, and worry about having fewer than two normal kidneys. A subset of 51 patients diagnosed after 2000 were followed up prospectively for at least 1 year. The mental and physical health composite scores were not significantly different from the validated norms for an age and sex-matched community sample. Although the type of operation had no influence on patients' overall QOL, all patients who underwent elective NSS showed a significantly greater score on physical function than patients treated with radical nephrectomy ( P