National Trends in the Utilization of Partial Nephrectomy Before and After the Establishment of AUA Guidelines for the Management of Renal Masses

Objective To assess the impact of the American Urological Association (AUA) guidelines advocating partial nephrectomy for T1 tumors guidelines on the likelihood of undergoing partial nephrectomy. Materials and Methods We analyzed the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), a dataset encompassing 20% of all United States inpatient hospitalizations, from 2007 through 2010. Our dependent variable was receipt of radical vs partial nephrectomy (55.50, 55.51, 55.52, and 55.54 vs 55.4) for a renal mass (International Classification of Disease, 9th Revision [ICD-9] code 189.0). The independent variable of interest was time of surgery (before or after the establishment of AUA guidelines); covariates included a diagnosis of chronic kidney disease (CKD), overall comorbidity, age, race, gender, geographic region, income, and hospital characteristics. Bivariate and multivariable adjusted logistic regression was used to determine the association between receipt of partial nephrectomy and time of guideline establishment. Results We identified 26,165 patients with renal tumors who underwent surgery. Before the guidelines, 4031 patients (27%) underwent partial nephrectomy compared to 3559 (32%) after. On multivariable analysis, undergoing surgery after the establishment of guidelines (odds ratio [OR] 1.20, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.08-1.32, P