The value of cytoreductive nephrectomy for metastatic renal cell carcinoma in the era of targeted therapy

Abstract

Purpose: We evaluated the value of cytoreductive nephrectomy in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma in the targeted therapy era.

Materials and methods: We reviewed the records of 78 patients treated with targeted therapy for metastatic renal cell carcinoma between 2006 and 2009. A total of 45 patients underwent cytoreductive nephrectomy followed by targeted therapy (cytoreductive nephrectomy group) and 33 were treated with targeted therapy alone (noncytoreductive nephrectomy group). We estimated progression-free and overall survival using Kaplan-Meier curves. The prognostic significance of each variable was estimated with a Cox proportional hazards regression model.

Results: Clinicopathological variables did not differ in the 2 groups except for Karnofsky performance status and sarcomatoid feature. The treatment response rate did not differ in the 2 groups (23.1% vs 30.3%, p = 0.488). Median progression-free survival was 11.7 and 9.0 months in the cytoreductive and noncytoreductive nephrectomy groups (p = 0.270), and median overall survival was 21.6 and 13.9 months, respectively (p = 0.128). On multivariate analysis Karnofsky performance status (HR 2.9, 95% CI 1.4-5.7, p = 0.003) and sarcomatoid features (HR 2.9, 95% 1.3-6.7, p = 0.013) were independent predictors of progression-free survival. Karnofsky performance status (HR 3.3, 95% 1.7-6.5, p = 0.001), sarcomatoid features (HR 2.7, 95% 1.2-6.2, p = 0.021) and liver metastasis (HR 2.7, 95% 1.0-7.1, p = 0.045) were independent predictors of overall survival.

Conclusions: We found no significant differences in tumor response or survival between the 2 groups. Prospective trials are needed to confirm our results.