Importance of ultrasonography in early detection of renal cell carcinoma

The importance of ultrasonography in early detection of renal cell carcinom a was analyzed for 1854 patients,who were operated from 1975 to 1997. The i i-year survival rate of all patients amounts to 75%, the 10- and 20-year su rvival rate was 68% and 64%. While from 1975 to 1986 tumor symptoms like he maturia (30%),abdominal pain (19%) and palpabele mass (3%) lead to diagnosi s of renal cell carcinoma in 56% of all cases, there were only 26% from 198 7 to 1997. 83% of asymtomatical tumors from 1987 to 1997 were accidentally detected by means of ultrasonography in a kidney independent examination. T hese rumors are significantly smaller (5,5 cm) than the tumors of symptomat ical patients (7,8 cm) and show often a significantly lower local tumor sta ge, a better tumor grade, frequently lymph nodes, which are free of tumor i nfiltration and more rarly distant metastasis. The 5-year survival rate of patients with incidental tumors, detected by ul trasonography (82%) was significantly better (log rank <0,001) in compariso n with the symptomatical patients (72%). These results verify 1. The effectivity of ultrasonography in early diagnos is of renal cell carcinoma and 2. The advantage of survival on patients wit h early tumor detection. That's why asymptomatic patients, who selected und er risk factors should be examinated by ultrasonography consistently too.