ABSTRACT
Radical nephrectomy is widely accepted as the surgical standard for treatment of renal cell carcinoma. A number of factors, however, have contributed to the increased utilization of nephron-sparing surgery (NSS) in select patients with renal cell carcinoma over the last two decades. The widespread application of diagnostic imaging has resulted in a precipitous increase in the number of incidentally detected renal tumors in North America and Europe.1,2 Data from the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program, has demonstrated that localized tumors comprise the majority of these incidentally detected renal tumors, and that this has impacted all age and racial groups.3
