Minimally Invasive Pediatric Oncology for Renal Malignancies

Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is increasingly used in adult tumor resections and has been shown to be associated with reduced pain and reduced length of stay, with similar oncologic and long-term survival outcomes. However, MIS is relatively infrequently used in children (1–5%) and adolescents (10%) with renal tumors, due in part to technical challenges related to the relatively large size of most pediatric renal tumors at the time of diagnosis. In this chapter, we review the literature and documented outcomes of MIS for renal tumors in children and the typical indications for MIS for renal tumors in children and adolescents. In addition, the choice of operative modality as well as general procedural steps of the most commonly used MIS procedures for renal tumors in children and adolescents are explored here in greater detail.