Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To quantitatively compare the functional renal volume loss, following nephron sparing surgery (NSS) between patients in whom tumor bed closure was done by biological tissue adhesive and those who were managed by standard suture technique. METHODS: From our institutional NSS database we retrospectively collected patients who had two sequential quantitative single-photon emission computed tomography of (99m)Tc-dimercaptosuccinic acid uptake studies, the first study immediately before surgery and the second one 3-6 months following surgery. The study group included 69 patients: 26 (37.7%) patients in the sealant group (BioGlue®) and 43 (62.3%) patients in the standard suture group. RESULTS: No statistically significant differences were noted in the baseline clinical and pathological characteristics of the studied groups. However, there were several statistically significant differences in operative variables: patients in the suture group had larger amount of blood loss (3-fold), longer ischemia time (26.6 vs. 21 minutes,) and slightly longer operation time. Patients in whom tumor bed was closed by sutures had nearly 3-fold higher parenchymal loss compared to patients managed by sealant (26.28 vs. 8.92 ml, p = 0.048). CONCLUSIONS: The use of tissue sealant during tumor bed reconstruction is associated with reduced devascularized parenchymal mass loss and should be considered among modifiable surgical factors during NSS.