Aim:

To describe the perioperative outcomes of patients undergoing nephrectomy with and without preoperative Renal Artery Embolization (RAE) in a high-complexity hospital in Medellín, Colombia.

Materials and Methods:

Retrospective, descriptive and observational study; 18-90 years old patients with renal tumor diagnosis, submitted to nephrectomy with and without preoperative RAE were included. Qualitative variables were expressed by measures of frequencies and proportions, and quantitative variables were expressed by measures of central tendency and dispersion.

Results:

71 patients with a media age of 58,1 (SD: 10,6) years were included, 41 were women and 69% were diagnosed with clear cell carcinoma. The blood loss volume media was 540.8 cc, and 19.7% required transfusion. The operative time media was 2.6 hours and 38% had any complication, with a total mortality of 4.2%. Comparatively observing patients with RAE (15 patients) versus patients without RAE (56 patients), a higher intraoperative blood loss and transfusion requirements were identified in the first ones.

Conclusion:

Patients submitted to RAE presented greater volume of bleeding, greater frequency of transfusion and post-operative complications, requiring a consensus on its real therapeutic relevance.