Thirty years ago inferior vena cava division was considered incompatible with acceptable life conditions, but in the sixties experimental findings showed that left renal vein division did not cause renal failure in animals, due to a new venous drainage. We report the case of a forty-seven-year old male patient with right renal cell carcinoma. He underwent radical nephrectomy with cavectomy and left renal vein ligation for extensive infiltration of the vena cava wall by a neoplastic thrombus. The post-operative course of renal function after the surgical procedure is described.
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