Prevalence of Partial Nephrectomy in the United States

Partial Nephrectomy Rates Rise, but Disparities Exist

Source: Sun, et al., European Association of Urology Conference, 2012.

A study of 375,986 patients in the United States who underwent either Partial Nephrectomy or Radical Nephrectomy from 1998 to 2009 showed:

• Rate of Use of Partial Nephrectomy rose from 6% to 28%
• Increasing age and multiple comorbidities were associated with a lower rate of Partial Nephrectomy
• Compared with privately insured patients, Medicare, Medicaid, and uninsured patients were 10%, 17%, and 21% less likely to undergo Partial Nephrectomy.  Accordingly, based on Zip Code, patients in the highest income quartile were 15% more likely to undergo Partial Nephrectomy than patients in the lowest quartile of income
• Patients treated at teaching hospitals were 46% more likely to undergo Partial Nephrectomy than those patients treated at non-teaching hospitals