Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 May;117(5):775-82.
doi: 10.1111/bju.13194. Epub 2015 Jul 5.

Metastases to the kidney: a comprehensive analysis of 151 patients from a tertiary referral centre

Cathy Zhou  1 , Diana L Urbauer  2 , Bryan M Fellman  2 , Pheroze Tamboli  3 , Miao Zhang  3 , Surena F Matin  1 , Christopher G Wood  1 , Jose A Karam  1
Affiliations

Metastases to the kidney: a comprehensive analysis of 151 patients from a tertiary referral centre

Cathy Zhou et al. BJU Int. 2016 May.

Abstract

Objective: To describe the presentation, treatment and outcomes of patients with metastatic tumours to the kidney treated at a tertiary referral centre.

Patients and methods: We retrospectively identified 151 patients diagnosed with a primary non-renal malignancy with renal metastasis. Clinical, radiographic and pathological characteristics were assessed. Overall survival (OS) was calculated using Kaplan-Meier methods.

Results: The median patient age was 56.7 years. The most common presenting symptoms were flank pain (30%), haematuria (16%) and weight loss (12%). Most primary cancers were carcinomas (80.8%). The most common primary tumour sites were lung (43.7%), colorectal (10.6%), head and neck (6%), breast (5.3%), soft tissue (5.3%) and thyroid (5.3%). Renal metastases were typically solitary (77.5%). Concordance between radiologist and clinician imaging assessment was 54.0%. Three ablations and 48 nephrectomies were performed. For non-surgical patients, renal metastasis diagnosis was made with fine-needle aspiration or biopsy. The median OS from primary tumour diagnosis was 3.08 years and the median OS from time of metastatic diagnosis was 1.13 years. For patients treated with surgery, median OS from primary tumour diagnosis was 4.81 years, and OS from metastatic diagnosis was 2.24 years.

Conclusions: Metastases to the kidney are a rare entity. Survival appears to be longer in patients who are candidates for and are treated with surgery. Surgical intervention in carefully selected patients with oligometastatic disease and good performance status should be considered. A multidisciplinary approach with input from urologists, oncologists, radiologists and pathologists is needed to achieve the optimum outcomes for this specific patient population.

Keywords: fine needle aspiration; kidney; malignancy; metastasis; needle core biopsy; nephrectomy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest

None of these disclosures by both authors are related to the current manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
a and b: Kaplan Meier curves of OS of all patients c and d: Kaplan-Meier curves of OS of patients treated with or without surgery
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abrams HL, Spiro R, Goldstein N. Metastases in carcinoma; analysis of 1000 autopsied cases. Cancer. 1950 Jan;3:74–85. - PubMed
    1. Bracken RB, Chica G, Johnson DE, Luna M. Secondary renal neoplasms: an autopsy study. Southern medical journal. 1979 Jul;72:806–807. - PubMed
    1. Klinger ME. Secondary tumors of the genito-urinary tract. The Journal of urology. 1951 Jan;65:144–153. - PubMed
    1. Pagani JJ. Solid renal mass in the cancer patient: second primary renal cell carcinoma versus renal metastasis. Journal of computer assisted tomography. 1983 Jun;7:444–448. - PubMed
    1. Bhatt GM, Bernardino ME, Graham SD., Jr CT diagnosis of renal metastases. Journal of computer assisted tomography. 1983 Dec;7:1032–1034. - PubMed

Publication types