Robotic nephroureterectomy in a horseshoe kidney for upper tract urothelial carcinoma

Abstract

Upper tract urothelial carcinoma represents a small proportion (5%–10%) of all urothelial cancers. Although there are several management options, in undifferentiated or high-risk cases, surgery in the form of nephroureterectomy is the gold standard. Horseshoe kidney is the most common congenital renal fusion anomaly affecting 1 in 400–600 patients. We present the case of a smoker in her mid-50s with an incidental finding of a papillary lesion in the right renal pelvis of her horseshoe kidney on CT scan. She went on to have endoscopic assessment confirming no other foci of disease. She was definitively managed with a robotic nephroureterectomy.

Laparoscopic Nephroureterectomy with Heminephrectomy for Urothelial Carcinoma of the Upper Renal Pelvis on the Left Side of the Horseshoe Kidney

“…Horseshoe kidney is a congenital abnormality in which the two kidneys are fused at their lower poles by a region of parenchymal and fibrous tissue called the isthmus [2]. There is no known association of horseshoe kidney with urothelial cancer; however, there are several case reports describing surgical management of tumors in patients with horseshoe kidney [3][4][5][6][7]. Herein, we present a case of urothelial carcinoma in the left renal pelvis of the horseshoe kidney.…”