Evaluating Recurrence Rates in Patients With sRCC

A study led by Dr. Kyle A. Blum and presented at the 2023 International Kidney Cancer Symposium: North America evaluated data from patients with sarcomatoid renal cell carcinoma (sRCC) across several institutions to generate a deeper understanding of the disease.

Prior research on sRCC has faced several limitations, including a lack of data due to the rarity of the disease, leading to a dearth of information on successful treatment options. Investigators also noted that patients diagnosed with sRCC often receive a poor prognosis.

Dr. Blum and colleagues conducted a retrospective analysis of the data of 1022 patients who underwent nephrectomy from 1986 to 2019. The researchers collected their data from Memorial Sloan Kettering (n=228); the University of California, Los Angeles (n=226); MD Anderson Cancer Center (n=423); and the Mayo Clinic (n=145).

Investigators evaluated survival outcomes, demographic data, and clinical presentation. They determined survival using data reporting death or last known follow-up.

For the 708 male (69.3%) and 314 female (30.7%) participating patients, median postsurgical follow-up occurred at 14.6 months. Of those patients, 563 (80.2%) displayed systemic symptoms, including fatigue or hematuria, while 139 (19.8%) patients were diagnosed due to unrelated incidents.

Of the 1022 patients, 92 (9.3%) were diagnosed with stage I sRCC, 85 (8.6%) with stage II, 655 (66.5%) with stage III, and 153 (15.5%) with stage IV. Researchers found that 656 (64.2%) of the patients had metastatic disease, while 366 (35.8%) presented with localized sRCC.

Dr. Blum and colleagues noted that in patients with clinically localized disease, 369 (57.5%) experienced recurrence, 218 (83.8%) distant recurrence, 29 (11.2%) local, and 13 (5.0%) regional.

Median overall survival was 11.2 months, while median cancer-specific survival was 10.9 months.

Researchers concluded that patients with sRCC are often diagnosed with stage III or higher disease and present with symptoms. “Most localized patients without evidence of distant metastasis will recur despite tumors treated with nephrectomy,” they wrote.