ND-YAG LASER TREATMENT IN TRANSITIONAL-CE LL CARCINOMA OF THE UPPER URINARY-TRACT

Six patients with upper urinary tract tumors were treated in our depar tment with the Nd:-YAG laser between 1989 and 1993. The average follow -up was 23.8 months. The mean age of the patients was 65.7 years. The patients were selected for organ-conserving treatment because of bilat eral synchronous tumors (2 cases), a solitary renal unit (2 cases), re nal insufficiency with high surgical risk (1 case) and high surgical r isk alone (1 case). Two patients were treated with open tumor excision and laser, two patients with ureteroscopic and percutaneous procedure s one patient with percutaneous treatment and one patient with uretero scopy. Two patients underwent nephroureterectomy; one of them died of metastatic bladder cancer 9 months later. Local relapses were observed in one patient who had been treated endoscopically. In a follow-up pe riod of 6-36 months there were three patients who had no relapses. Thr ee patients received intracavitary therapy. Kidney conserving procedur es with the Nd:-YAG laser in patients with upper urinary tract tumors should be reserved for highly selected cases.