Purpose

To investigate national utilization trends of minimally-invasive partial nephrectomy (PN) and minimally-invasive radical nephrectomy (RN), and to identify disparities in the usage of these techniques across different sociodemographic subgroups.

Materials and methods

A retrospective cohort study was conducted using the National Cancer Database to identify patients undergoing partial or RN for cT1N0M0 renal cancer diagnosed between 2010 and 2015. Main outcomes of interest were the utilizations of minimally-invasive (robotic and laparoscopic) PN and RN.

Results

A total of 46,346 and 37,712 subjects who underwent PN and RN, respectively, were analyzed. During the study interval, increased utilization of robotic surgery paralleled the decreased utilization of open surgery. Robotic PN increased from 35.2% to 63.7% and robotic RN increased from 10.3% to 26.3%. The utilization of laparoscopic surgery was decreasing for PN but stable for RN through the study period. In the PN cohort, multivariable logistic regression showed non-Hispanic black (odds ratio [OR] = 0.90 [95% CI, 0.84-0.96]) and Hispanic (OR = 0.91 [0.84-0.99]) subjects were associated with less utilization of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) (vs. non-Hispanic white). Younger (18-64 years) Medicare (OR = 0.83 [0.77-0.90]), Medicaid (OR = 0.80 [0.74-0.87]), and uninsured (OR = 0.55 [0.49-0.62]) were also associated with less utilization of MIS (vs. private insurance). Compared with low socioeconomic status (SES), upper middle (OR = 1.14 [1.07-1.21]) and high (OR = 1.24 [1.16-1.33]) SES were associated with higher utilization of MIS. Similar demographic, insurance, and SES-related disparities were identified in the RN cohort.

Conclusions

Utilization of MIS for localized renal cancer has increased significantly and was mainly attributed to increased usage of robotic surgery. Racial/ethnic, insurance, and SES related disparities in MIS utilization were identified. Our findings demonstrate a targetable subgroup of patients who do not have the same access to advances in surgical technology.