ORLANDO, FL USA (UroToday.com) - Hematuria is associated with renal cell carcinoma (RCC). However, its relationship with specific pathologic subtypes has not been evaluated. Michael Hanzly and colleagues sought to evaluate whether hematuria could be predictive for subtype of RCC and benign renal masses.
The authors assessed all renal mass patients undergoing partial and radical nephrectomy in a single institution since 2004 with preoperative urine testing. The incidence of hematuria prior to operation was determined, and this was used to compare different subtypes of renal masses.
The study was comprised of 292 patients, and the majority of the cases were clear cell histology, while the rest were papillary, oncocytoma, and 14 chromophobe. Forty percent of patients had hematuria prior to their surgery. Hematuria was significantly associated with benign vs malignant histology. Patients who had oncocytoma had lower incidence of hematuria than other RCC subtypes.
This is the first study that evaluates hematuria incidence in different subtypes of RCC. These results may be useful in clinical practice in that urine tests can be ordered to evaluate for hematuria. Depending on the presence of hematuria, the risk of the patient can be assessed prior to surgical treatment. Given the low subject number, multiple institutions will likely be needed to increase the power of this study and improve the accuracy of the results shown and become more clinically useful. Larger sample size will also be useful to subgroup the analysis using macro vs micro hematuria, as they were combined in the presented study.
Presented by Michael Hanzly at the American Urological Association (AUA) Annual Meeting - May 16 - 21, 2014 - Orlando, Florida USA
Buffalo, NY USA
Written by Garen Abedi, MD, University of California (Irvine), and medical writer for UroToday.com
