OUR 10-YEAR EXPERIENCE WITH EMBOLIZED WILMS-TUMOR

In the Department of Pediatric Surgery, Clinical Hospital Center Rebro in Zagreb, during the last 10 years a new method of invasive diagnost ic and at the same time therapeutic procedure for the treatment of Wil ms' tumor has been introduced. The treatment is preoperative Percutane ous Transcatheter Intraarterial Embolization (PTIE) of the renal arter y. The aim of this procedure is to reduce vascularization, to decrease the mass of kidney affected by the tumor, to separate it from the sur rounding tissue, to decrease intraoperative spillage of malignant cell s into the blood stream and their metastasizing. As a result nephrecto my is easier to perform. it has been confirmed that it is best to perf orm nephrectomy 48 hours after embolization. The authors present their own experience with 33 patients, ranging from 1 to 16 years of age.