Renal cell carcinoma accounts about three percent of all adult neoplasms. T
his review provides a current status about the surgical management of renal
cell carcinoma. In localised carcinomas radical nephrectomy is still the s
tandard treatment and provides 5 Year survival rates up to 98 %. As nephron
-sparing surgery in mandatory indications can achieve similar survival doub
t can be expressed whether lymphadenectomy or adrenalectomy are necessary i
n every case. Nephron-sparing surgery is associated with a higher rate of o
perative complications up to 40 % and probably with a higher risk of local
recurrence. However, parenchymal-sparing surgery in elective indications is
possible for small tumors, if long term follow up is guaranteed. But there
is no convincing advantage of nephron-sparing surgery to recommend this pr
ocedure as a general approach in patients with a normal contralateral kidne
y. Radical surgery in renal carcinomas invading to the vena cava still rema
ins a challenging surgical intervention. Nevertheless,in selected patients
surgery can realise long term survival in over a third of cases. Palliative
nephrectomy in metastatic renal carcinomas is only justified in real palli
ative indications (bleeding, pain) or in clinical trials investigating cyto
reductive surgery before immunotherapy. In highly selected patients with me
tastatic renal carcinoma a radical surgical approach including nephrectomy
and complete metastasectomy can achieve long term survival.