Local recurrence of nephroblastoma

Recurrent nephroblastoma tumors have a poor prognosis. They pose the problem of their etiology. In a retrospective study of 14 cases of local recurrence of nephroblastoma, we investigated factors predictive of recurrence and assessed the prognosis. The mean age of patients at the time of initial tumor diagnosis was 4.5 years, with a sex ratio of 0.4. The mean time to local recurrence was 25.5 months. It was shorter in cases of: age greater than 3 years, tumor size greater than 110 mm, immediate association with metastases, difficult tumor excision, absence of lymph node sampling and resistance to chemotherapy. Also, in stages III and IV, blastematous type, anaplasia and tumor weight greater than 550 g. The prognosis for recurrence was good in 71.5% of patients (30% of whom had distant metastases) and poor in 28.5%. We recommend particular attention and further investigation of therapeutic alternatives for local recurrence of nephroblastoma, in order to improve prognosis.