SAN DIEGO, CA USA (UroToday.com) - Benefits of statin use are being recognized in many clinical settings. Drs. Samuel Kaffenberer and Peter Clark and colleagues from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN evaluated an association between statin use and survival following surgery for renal cell carcinoma (RCC).
Their retrospective study included 967 patients with kidney cancer who underwent surgical treatment between 1995 and 2010. Overall survival and disease-specific survival were assessed, controlling for age, gender, race, ASA classification, pre-operative anemia, hypoalbuminemia, corrected hypercalcemia, tumor characteristics, lymph node and metastatic status, procedure performed, transfusion status, BMI, presence of diabetes mellitus, and ABO blood group. Median follow-up was 42.9 months. In univariable analysis, 3-year DSS was significantly different favoring statin users, 90% vs. 83%, p=0.045. When controlling for the above variables, statin use maintained independent association with both improved OS (HR 0.60; 95%CI 0.42-0.86; p=0.005) and DSS (HR 0.48; 95% CI 0.28-0.81; p=0.007).
These results are intriguing and merit further evaluation. The biologic mechanism affecting kidney cancer survival remains to be elucidated, although authors hypothesize these effects are via modulation of the immune function by statins. Additional analyses may be warranted to confirm that impact of statin use on survival is not simply a proxy for quality of healthcare or a surrogate for socioeconomic status.
Presented by Opal Lin-Tsai, Samuel Kaffenberger, Kelly Stratton, Daniel Barocas, Sam Chang, Michael Cookson, Duke Herrell, Joseph Smith, and Peter Clark at the American Urological Association (AUA) Annual Meeting - May 4 - 8, 2013 - San Diego Convention Center - San Diego, California USA
Reported for UroToday.com by Serge Ginzburg, MD
