Renal Cryosurgery

With the advent of improved abdominal imaging over the last two decades, the proportion of incidentally discovered renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has reached nearly 50-60% (1-4). During the same time, interest in minimally invasive alternatives for surgical ablation of renal neoplasms has also risen. Historically, radical nephrectomy has been the standard for the treatment of RCC (5,6). Recent studies, however, have demonstrated that nephron-sparing nephrectomy or partial nephrectomies are also effective in the management of smaller RCCs (,4 cm) (7-9).