Early-stage renal pelvis cancer has a relatively good prognosis and may reach clinical cure after active treatment, but renal pelvis cancer has a high risk of recurrence.
Renal pelvic cancer originates from the epithelium of the urinary tract, and its biological characteristics are multipoint occurrence and easy recurrence. The mucosa of ureter and bladder also belongs to urinary tract epithelium, so renal pelvis cancer is often accompanied by ureter and bladder cancer. Therefore, radical surgery for renal pelvis cancer is semi-urethral resection, including the affected side kidney, the affected side ureter and part of the bladder.
Early stage renal pelvis cancer mostly refers to non-muscle invasive upper urinary tract uroepithelial cancer, and without lymph node and distant metastasis. At this time, the tumor is more limited and easier to control after active treatment.
After surgery, intravesical instillation chemotherapy or immunotherapy (e.g. epirubicin, BCG vaccine, etc.) is needed according to the situation, so as to reduce the recurrence rate of the tumor.
A study in China claims that the median time for recurrence of renal pelvis cancer after surgery is 12 months (i.e., the time for 50% of patients to recur), with 17.2% of patients experiencing recurrence, of which 80% of the recurrence patients appeared within 2 years after surgery. It has also been claimed that the 1-year recurrence-free survival rate of early-stage renal pelvis cancer is about 90%, while the 1-year tumor-specific survival rate is about 92%.
In conclusion, renal pelvis cancer is prone to recurrence after surgery and requires regular review. It is recommended to go to regular hospitals to evaluate the condition, cooperate with the treatment as prescribed by doctors, and actively follow the doctor’s instructions for rechecking in order to avoid delaying the condition.