Partial nephrectomy is not associated with an overall survival advantage over radical nephrectomy in elderly patients with stage Ib-II renal masses: An analysis of the national cancer data base.

BACKGROUND

Partial nephrectomy (PN) is recommended for localized T1a (≤4 cm) renal masses and is preferred over radical nephrectomy (RN) for amenable T1b/T2 (>4 cm) tumors. The objective of the current study was to assess overall survival (OS) differences between PN and RN in patients with T1 and T2 renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

METHODS

The National Cancer Data Base was queried for patients with T1 and T2 RCC who underwent PN or RN from 2004 to 2014. Trends in surgery were evaluated using Cochran-Armitage tests. Differences in OS were assessed using adjusted Kaplan-Meier methods. The effects of procedure on OS were analyzed using propensity score-based, weighted Cox proportional hazards models.

RESULTS

In total, 212,016 patients with T1 and T2 RCC who underwent either RN (59.7%) or PN (40.3%) were included. The use of PN rose from 2004 to 2014 (T1a: from 40.6% to 71.4%; T1b/T2: from 8.4% to 26.5%; P < .01). Adjusted 5-year OS was longer for patients who underwent PN in both subsets, although effect magnitude was reduced in the T1b/T2 cohort (T1a: 89.6% vs 85.1%; hazard ratio [HR], 0.73; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.70-0.75; P < .01; T1b/T2: 82.5% vs 80.8%; HR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.83-0.94; P = .01). The benefit of PN on OS diminished as age and time from diagnosis increased; no OS improvement was observed in patients age ≥75 years who had T1b/T2 tumors (HR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.76-1.06).

CONCLUSIONS

Receipt of PN is associated with improved OS in patients with T1a RCC. No procedure-related differences in OS were observed for patients age ≥75 years who had tumors measuring >4 cm. Decisions to undergo PN for T1b/T2 tumors should be based on individualized risk assessment.