Cytoreductive nephrectomy may benefit RCC patients with brain mets

While patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) brain metastases are traditionally thought of as having a grim prognosis, a subset of patients may experience durable long-term survival with cytoreductive nephrectomy, authors of a retrospective study have reported.

Specifically, patients with brain lesions and no additional metastatic disease sites who underwent cytoreduction had a 2-year survival rate of 52%, according to the researchers’ analysis of data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program. 

By contrast, these patients with brain-only metastases who did not undergo the procedure had a 2-year survival of 14%, reported Gennady Bratslavsky, MD, of State University of New York, Syracuse, and his associates.

The findings are at odds with “previously accepted dogma” that surgery is inadvisable in patients with RCC with brain metastases, which is traditionally thought of as a poor-risk feature, according to Dr. Bratslavsky and his colleagues.

“These patients seem to benefit from cytoreductive nephrectomy and may potentially be excellent candidates for clinical trials,” they wrote in Urologic Oncology.

However, patient selection likely drove survival outcomes in this retrospective cohort, the authors acknowledged, adding that they did not intend to argue “for or against” the role of cytoreductive nephrectomy.

In their analysis, they identified 6,403 patients with metastatic RCC and complete information on sites of metastasis; of these, 775 (12.1%) had brain metastases.

Patients with brain metastases generally fared worse than did patients with other, non-brain metastases, with 2-year survival rates of 14.9% and 28.6%, respectively (P less than .0001); however, patients with brain-only metastases had a 2-year survival of 31% overall in this analysis.

Cytoreductive nephrectomy was performed in 40.8% of patients with brain-only metastases, versus 20.8% of patients with synchronous metastases (P less than .0001).

Brain-only metastases patients who underwent cytoreductive nephrectomy had 1-year survival of 67%, 2-year survival of 52%, and median survival of 33 months, the data show. In contrast, brain-only metastases patients who did not undergo the procedure had 1-year survival of 26%, 2-year survival of 14%, and median survival of just 5 months.

Even when the researchers included patients with brain metastases in addition to other sites, cytoreduction was associated with superior outcomes, compared with patients with non-brain metastases who did not undergo cytoreduction, the investigators said. The reported 2-year survival rates in that analysis were 34.1% for brain metastasis and cytoreduction versus 14.4% for non-brain metastasis and no cytoreduction.

While this study was retrospective and was based on limited patient data, these findings nevertheless suggest that patients with RCC and isolated brain metastases might benefit from the procedure, Dr. Bratslavsky and his coauthors said.

“We anticipate that this work will be helpful for patient counseling and for modifying future exclusion criteria in clinical trials,” they concluded.

Dr. Bratslavsky and his coauthors listed no disclosures related to their research.

SOURCE: Daugherty M et al. Urol Oncol. 2018 Dec 5. doi: 10.1016/j.urolonc.2018.10.021.

While patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) brain metastases are traditionally thought of as having a grim prognosis, a subset of patients may experience durable long-term survival with cytoreductive nephrectomy, authors of a retrospective study have reported.

Specifically, patients with brain lesions and no additional metastatic disease sites who underwent cytoreduction had a 2-year survival rate of 52%, according to the researchers’ analysis of data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program. 

By contrast, these patients with brain-only metastases who did not undergo the procedure had a 2-year survival of 14%, reported Gennady Bratslavsky, MD, of State University of New York, Syracuse, and his associates.

The findings are at odds with “previously accepted dogma” that surgery is inadvisable in patients with RCC with brain metastases, which is traditionally thought of as a poor-risk feature, according to Dr. Bratslavsky and his colleagues.

“These patients seem to benefit from cytoreductive nephrectomy and may potentially be excellent candidates for clinical trials,” they wrote in Urologic Oncology.

However, patient selection likely drove survival outcomes in this retrospective cohort, the authors acknowledged, adding that they did not intend to argue “for or against” the role of cytoreductive nephrectomy.

In their analysis, they identified 6,403 patients with metastatic RCC and complete information on sites of metastasis; of these, 775 (12.1%) had brain metastases.

Patients with brain metastases generally fared worse than did patients with other, non-brain metastases, with 2-year survival rates of 14.9% and 28.6%, respectively (P less than .0001); however, patients with brain-only metastases had a 2-year survival of 31% overall in this analysis.

Cytoreductive nephrectomy was performed in 40.8% of patients with brain-only metastases, versus 20.8% of patients with synchronous metastases (P less than .0001).

Brain-only metastases patients who underwent cytoreductive nephrectomy had 1-year survival of 67%, 2-year survival of 52%, and median survival of 33 months, the data show. In contrast, brain-only metastases patients who did not undergo the procedure had 1-year survival of 26%, 2-year survival of 14%, and median survival of just 5 months.

Even when the researchers included patients with brain metastases in addition to other sites, cytoreduction was associated with superior outcomes, compared with patients with non-brain metastases who did not undergo cytoreduction, the investigators said. The reported 2-year survival rates in that analysis were 34.1% for brain metastasis and cytoreduction versus 14.4% for non-brain metastasis and no cytoreduction.

While this study was retrospective and was based on limited patient data, these findings nevertheless suggest that patients with RCC and isolated brain metastases might benefit from the procedure, Dr. Bratslavsky and his coauthors said.

“We anticipate that this work will be helpful for patient counseling and for modifying future exclusion criteria in clinical trials,” they concluded.

Dr. Bratslavsky and his coauthors listed no disclosures related to their research.

SOURCE: Daugherty M et al. Urol Oncol. 2018 Dec 5. doi: 10.1016/j.urolonc.2018.10.021.

While patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) brain metastases are traditionally thought of as having a grim prognosis, a subset of patients may experience durable long-term survival with cytoreductive nephrectomy, authors of a retrospective study have reported.

Specifically, patients with brain lesions and no additional metastatic disease sites who underwent cytoreduction had a 2-year survival rate of 52%, according to the researchers’ analysis of data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program. 

By contrast, these patients with brain-only metastases who did not undergo the procedure had a 2-year survival of 14%, reported Gennady Bratslavsky, MD, of State University of New York, Syracuse, and his associates.

The findings are at odds with “previously accepted dogma” that surgery is inadvisable in patients with RCC with brain metastases, which is traditionally thought of as a poor-risk feature, according to Dr. Bratslavsky and his colleagues.

“These patients seem to benefit from cytoreductive nephrectomy and may potentially be excellent candidates for clinical trials,” they wrote in Urologic Oncology.

However, patient selection likely drove survival outcomes in this retrospective cohort, the authors acknowledged, adding that they did not intend to argue “for or against” the role of cytoreductive nephrectomy.

In their analysis, they identified 6,403 patients with metastatic RCC and complete information on sites of metastasis; of these, 775 (12.1%) had brain metastases.

Patients with brain metastases generally fared worse than did patients with other, non-brain metastases, with 2-year survival rates of 14.9% and 28.6%, respectively (P less than .0001); however, patients with brain-only metastases had a 2-year survival of 31% overall in this analysis.

Cytoreductive nephrectomy was performed in 40.8% of patients with brain-only metastases, versus 20.8% of patients with synchronous metastases (P less than .0001).

Brain-only metastases patients who underwent cytoreductive nephrectomy had 1-year survival of 67%, 2-year survival of 52%, and median survival of 33 months, the data show. In contrast, brain-only metastases patients who did not undergo the procedure had 1-year survival of 26%, 2-year survival of 14%, and median survival of just 5 months.

Even when the researchers included patients with brain metastases in addition to other sites, cytoreduction was associated with superior outcomes, compared with patients with non-brain metastases who did not undergo cytoreduction, the investigators said. The reported 2-year survival rates in that analysis were 34.1% for brain metastasis and cytoreduction versus 14.4% for non-brain metastasis and no cytoreduction.

While this study was retrospective and was based on limited patient data, these findings nevertheless suggest that patients with RCC and isolated brain metastases might benefit from the procedure, Dr. Bratslavsky and his coauthors said.

“We anticipate that this work will be helpful for patient counseling and for modifying future exclusion criteria in clinical trials,” they concluded.

Dr. Bratslavsky and his coauthors listed no disclosures related to their research.

SOURCE: Daugherty M et al. Urol Oncol. 2018 Dec 5. doi: 10.1016/j.urolonc.2018.10.021.