In the treatment of renal tumors, nephron sparing treatment alternatives' indications are extending and taking the place of radical surgery. Recently, most preferred nephron sparing surgery is still open partial nephrectomy.

Although open partial nephrectomy is gold standard treatment modality for the treatment of small renal tumors, minimally invasive surgery alternatives are more commonly being preferred. However, in the patients which the warm ischemia time should be shorter such as with solitary kidney, multifocal cases and patients who are unsuitable for laparoscopic surgery because of the co-morbidities are still candidates for open surgery. Open partial nephrectomy is also preferred for the treatment of renal tumors between 4-7 cm's in diameter, considering the similar oncologic results and lower mortality when compared to radical surgery.

In this review, the recent application areas and advantages of open partial nephrectomy is discussed in the light of the literature.

Keywords: Open partial nephrectomy, treatment, renal cell carcinoma