Partial Nephrectomy is Associated with Higher Risk of Relapse Compared with Radical Nephrectomy for Clinical Stage T1 Renal Cell Carcinoma Pathologically Up Staged to T3a

In a subgroup of patients clinically staged T1 renal cell carcinoma will be pathologically up staged to T3a. Among these patients those who undergo partial nephrectomy appear to have inferior recurrence-free survival relative to those who undergo radical nephrectomy.