SURGERY FOR THE URINARY-TRACT CANCER

The most common urological tumours consist of tumours of the kidney, t he bladder and the prostate, which all tend to occur with an increasin g frequency in the population. Along with the improved early diagnosis of renal and prostatic carcinomas, the number of patients requiring r adical treatment is also increasing. Radical nephrectomy is still the treatment of choice for renal cancer. The treatment of infiltrative lo cal bladder carcinoma is radical cystectomy, whereas superficial bladd er carcinoma is still treated by using endoscopic transurethral coagul ation, resection or laceration. Organ-saving surgery has also been ado pted into use in the treatment of small local renal and bladder cancer . In female patients with local infiltrative bladder cancer it is poss ible to reserve the normal micturation by a new technique in which the urethra is retained after radical surgery, or the appendix is used fo r replacing the urethra after radical cystectomy. These new techniques improve the patients' quality of life. Anatomic radical retropubic pr ostatectomy has reduced the number of surgical complications in the tr eatment of prostatic cancer. The significance of neoadjuvant and adjuv ant therapies for the patient's prognosis is still controversial and r equires further research.