ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Interrupting the blood flow for more than 20
to 25 minutes during kidney cancer
(http://www.mayoclinic.org/kidney-cancer/research.html) surgery
leads to a greater risk for patients developing chronic kidney
disease, a Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic collaborative
research team has found. The study was published today in the
journal, European Urology. For the retrospective study,
researchers analyzed outcomes of 362 patients with only one
kidney who underwent surgery for renal cortical tumors at Mayo
Clinic and Cleveland Clinic between 1990 and 2008. Using a
technique called warm ischemia, surgeons kept the patient's
kidneys at body temperature during the partial nephrectomy.
Ischemia involves cutting off the blood supply to the kidney
with clamps in order to control bleeding and to keep blood from
obscuring the surgeon's view of the kidney. It also allows for
precise closure of the urine collecting system and the surgical
opening. The median ischemia time was 21 minutes in the study
and t