Chapters authored
Current Role of Adjuvant Therapy in High Risk for Recurrence Resected Kidney Cancer
Renal cell carcinoma accounts for about 2% of all adult malignancies. More than 300,000 individuals are affected each year. Unfortunately, around 30% of cases are discovered in advanced stages. Surgical resection remains the mainstay of treatment for localized disease and relapses can reach up to 40% in some cases. The effective treatment of metastatic RCC with systemic targeted therapy gives a strong rationale for its use as adjuvant treatment in high-risk patients. This chapter reviews different modalities that have been used as an adjuvant therapy for nonmetastatic renal cancer. Clinical trials using targeted therapy are discussed in detail, as they are becoming options for treatment in high-risk patients. While the current set of completed adjuvant clinical trials have provided conflicting results, there are additional large-scale trials that are still in progress. Future directions include—incorporating a genetic recurrence score to evaluate risk of relapse in patients, developing an adequate and an objective standardized adjuvant trial design, identifying novel biomarkers, and evaluating novel drug targets. Based upon current clinical trial evidence, motivated high-risk patients should have a discussion with the urology oncology team regarding the benefits of adjuvant TKI sunitinib or consider enrollment in current ongoing immuno-oncology (IO) adjuvant clinical trials.
Part of the book: Evolving Trends in Kidney Cancer