Growth of renoprivals following uninephrectomy for Wilms' tumour: application and suitability of a method of assessment.

In an attempt to evaluate the long-term renoprival growth in patients uni-nephrectomized for Wilms' tumour, renal length was related to the length of the lumbar segment L1-L3. The results of this study indicated that spinal growth retardation, secondary to applied adjuvant treatment, invalidated employment of the method for this particular purpose. A computerized analysis showed no straight-forward correlation between age at operation, chemotherapy utilized, irradiation and the post-treatment renoprival growth as established by substitution of the observed L1-L3 length with a mathematically corrected value. Emergent figures exclude significant compensatory growth of the remaining kidney.