Renal Cell Cancer: Bench Surgery and Autotransplantation for Complex Localised Disease

When critically appraising our personal experience consisting of 21 retrospective cases from 1992 to 2000 and of 36 prospective cases (this series) from 2001 to 2006, bench surgery and autotransplantation for complex cases of RCC are feasible and probably cost effective. There is a clear need for strict inclusion criteria such as an imperative indication and organ-confined (hence, surgically curable disease) stages, a multidisciplinary team approach, suitable infrastructure, and experience in major surgical procedures. If these criteria are met, bench surgery followed by autotransplantation has become again a valuable last resort and is apparently safe.