Laparoscopic simple enucleation and coagulation on tumor bed using argon beam coagulator for treating small renal cell carcinomas: An animal study followed by clinical application

MATERIAL/METHODS The animal experiments of coagulation therapy on the wound tissue bed during partial nephrectomy with an argon beam coagulator were performed on 16 rabbits, which were randomly divided into 4 groups. Groups A and B had renal artery occlusion; the treatment time of coagulation was 4 seconds and 6 seconds, respectively. Groups C and D did not have renal artery occlusion; the treatment time of coagulation was 2 seconds and 4 seconds, respectively. Then 30 clinical operations of laparoscopic simple enucleation and coagulation on tumor bed using an argon beam coagulator were performed. RESULTS All 16 rabbits successfully underwent the operation. By the histological examination, the scab depth of the wound tissue bed in groups A, B, C, and D were 2.76 ± 0.17 mm, 3.15 ± 0.15 mm, 2.28 ± 0.16 mm and 2.75 ± 0.06 mm, respectively. Group A differed significantly from groups B and C (P=0.012, 0.007), and group D differed significantly from groups B and C (P=0.002, 0.002). In the clinical study, all 30 patients successfully underwent the operation. The mean operative time was 182 minutes, and the mean blood loss was 280 ml. With a median follow-up time of 37 months, neither local recurrence nor distant metastasis was found by computerized tomography scan. CONCLUSIONS Laparoscopic simple enucleation and coagulation on tumor bed using an argon beam coagulator can be considered for treating small renal cell carcinomas. However, the indication of this procedure should be highly selected.