For patients with early stage Ia (tumor maximum diameter <4 cm) and stage Ib (tumor maximum diameter 4-7 cm) renal cancer, recurrence rates after radical or partial nephrectomy are low, and long-term outcomes are not significantly different, as confirmed by long postoperative follow-up. Therefore, patients with stage Ia and stage Ib early-stage renal tumors have every opportunity to undergo kidney unit-preserving surgery. However, the feasibility score of renal unit preserving surgery must be done before surgery, which is mainly scored by the site of tumor, size, whether it is endogenous, and the distance from the renal hilum and blood vessels to determine the difficulty and risk of complications of renal unit preserving surgery.
For stage II (tumor largest diameter >7 cm) renal cancer, the local recurrence rate after partial nephrectomy may be higher than radical nephrectomy, so it is more reasonable to choose radical nephrectomy for renal cancer.
