Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have led to substantial changes in systemic treatment for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). For patients whose metastases respond to upfront ICI therapy, deferred cytoreductive nephrectomy (CN) may confer a survival advantage. Further data from ongoing trials are awaited regarding the role of deferred versus immediate CN for mRCC in the ICI era. PATIENT SUMMARY: The first-line treatment currently recommended for kidney cancer that has spread to other sites is immunotherapy. For patients who experience a good response to this treatment, surgical kidney removal to control the primary tumor may have a survival benefit. More evidence from clinical trials is needed to confirm the efficacy of this approach.
European urology focus. 2023 Feb 10 [Epub ahead of print]
Takafumi Yanagisawa, Manuela Schmidinger, Tatsushi Kawada, Kensuke Bekku, Takahiro Kimura, Shahrokh F Shariat
Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Urology, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. Electronic address: ., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Urology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan., Department of Urology, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan., Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Division of Urology, Department of Special Surgery, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan; Department of Urology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA; Department of Urology, Second Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czechia; Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA; Karl Landsteiner Institute of Urology and Andrology, Vienna, Austria.