TAKING A RISK TO SAVE THE KIDNEY AFFECTED BY CANCER

Five years ago, 65-year-old Yulia Ivanovna from the Tambov region was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in her right kidney. The only possible solution at the time was a complete removal of the organ. For all these years, the patient underwent regular follow-up examinations. During one of these, doctors discovered a tumor in her remaining left kidney, with a metastasis in the right adrenal gland.

This case is considered rare, where a tumor recurs in the contralateral kidney and metastasizes to the adrenal gland following prior conservative treatment. Yulia Ivanovna faced a difficult choice: agree to the removal of her only kidney and transition to dialysis or attempt to preserve the organ through drug therapy. In search of alternative treatment, she turned to the FSBI “NMRRC’ of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation.

“Despite the fact that many doctors in such situations would prefer to avoid surgery and prescribe drug therapy, we accepted the challenge and decided to perform a complex operation,” says oncologist Oleg Osipov from the Oncourology Department at N. Lopatkin Scientific Research Institute of Urology and Interventional Radiology – branch of the Federal State Budgetary Institution of the “National Medical Research Radiological Centre” of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation.

The team of doctors from the Oncourology Department developed an individual treatment plan. To preserve the kidney’s function, the surgeons performed a simultaneous resection of the kidney and an adrenalectomy, meaning the removal of the adrenal gland on the right side. To minimize the risk of damaging the remaining kidney, the surgeons did not clamp the renal vessels, as is usually done. This approach significantly increased the risk of blood loss, but the doctors managed to complete the entire planned surgery while fully preserving the kidney’s function.

“Now the left adrenal gland will completely take over the function of the right one, but this will not affect the patient’s quality of life,” explains Oleg Osipov. After the surgery, Yulia Ivanovna was able to recover quickly. “Of course, we will continue to monitor our patient’s condition, but given the absence of other metastases, our team believes in the radical success of the treatment,” concludes her doctor.