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Celia et al. Mini-invasive Surg 2020;4:5 Mini-invasive Surgery
DOI: 10.20517/2574-1225.2018.007

Editorial Open Access

An introduction to the special issue “Small Renal
Masses (SRMs): update in diagnosis, management

and new ablative modalities”

Antonio Celia , Richard Naspro 2
1
1 Urology Unit, San Bassiano Hospital, Bassano del Grappa 36061, Italy.
2 UOC Urologia, ASST Papa Giovanni XXIII, Bergamo, Italy.

Correspondence to: Dr. Antonio Celia, Chief of Urology Unit, San Bassiano Hospital, Bassano del Grappa (VI) 36061, Italy.
E-mail: antoniocel70@yahoo.it

How to cite this article: Celia A, Naspro R. An introduction to the special issue “Small Renal Masses (SRMs): update in diagnosis,
management and new ablative modalities”. Mini-invasive Surg 2020;4:5. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2574-1225.2018.007
Received: 1 Dec 2018 Accepted: 15 Jan 2020 Published: 20 Jan 2020

Science Editor: Antonio Celia Copy Editor: Jing-Wen Zhang Production Editor: Jing Yu

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common primary malignancy of the kidney and accounts for
almost 2% of all cancers. Approximately 270,000 new RCC cases are diagnosed worldwide each year. The
highest incidence of RCC is reported in Western countries, with 100,000 new cases per year in Europe.
Over the last decades an increase in the detection of localized RCC has been observed, probably due to the
[1]
widespread use of sectional imaging accounting for incidental diagnosis .
In the 1980s, only 12% of RCC cases were diagnosed as stage T1a and more than 60% accounted for stages
T3-4. Currently, almost 60% are stage T1a at diagnosis and locally advanced or primary metastatic renal
[2]
tumours account for only a quarter of all incidental cases .
The highest incidence of localized tumours or Small Renal Masses (SRMs) is found in the elderly patients,
who typically present with a high number of comorbidities. As approximately 70%-90% of these SRMs are
malignant RCC, treatment may be required. This has certainly generated great interest in delivering better
cancer care for older, more complex patients in a more tailored fashion.

Surgery still represents the standard of care for localized renal cancer. Partial nephrectomy, being open,
laparoscopic or robotic has emerged as the treatment of choice for stage T1a-b tumours. Even in the
presence of larger tumours, organ preservation can be considered when technically feasible and in select

© The Author(s) 2020. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
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