Renal cell carcinoma metastatic to the lung: potential benefit in the combination of biological therapy and surgery.

Abstract

We evaluated outcomes in cases of renal cell carcinoma metastatic to the lung treated with surgery or biological therapy followed by surgery. We retrospectively evaluated 22 patients treated with surgical resection and 29 treated with biological therapy followed by surgery. At the time of this study 31 patients (61%) were alive, including 15 with no residual disease and 16 with disease. Of the 22 patients treated with surgery without initial biological therapy 12 (55%) were alive at a median followup of 57 months (range 17 to 148) and 19 of the 29 (66%) treated with combination therapy were alive at a median followup of 48 months (range 19 to 78). A total of 19 patients (37%) died of progressive disease. Our results suggest a role for an aggressive surgical approach in select patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma, and demonstrate that patients who do not achieve a complete response to biological therapy may benefit from surgical resection of residual disease.