Cytoreductive partial nephrectomy does not undermine cancer control in metastatic renal cell carcinoma: a population-based study.

Overview

OBJECTIVES: We examined the population-based rates of cancer-specific survival in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (MRCC) treated with either partial (PN) or radical cytoreductive nephrectomy (RN). METHODS: Patients diagnosed with MRCC and treated with either PN or RN were identified within nine SEER cancer registries. Matched and unmatched Kaplan-Meier survival analyses, as well as multivariable Cox regression models compared the effect of RN (n = 1997, 97.8%) vs. PN (n = 46, 2.2%) on cancer-specific survival (CSS). Covariates consisted of age, gender, community type (rural vs urban), race, Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registry, tumor size and year of diagnosis. RESULTS: In multivariable unmatched Cox regression analyses, no statistically significantly difference was found in CSS between the two groups (hazard ratio [HR] 1.40, P = .16). Similarly, no difference in CSS was found in the matched analyses (HR 1.35, log rank P = .34). CONCLUSION: Cytoreductive PN does not appear to undermine survival in patients with MRCC.