Radiotherapy of metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

Modern oncological treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma may have different goals: first of all, improvement of survival rates; secondly, elimination of symptoms like pain from osseous lesions or disorders of central nervous system functions. Chemotherapy or radiotherapy or the combination of both should improve life quality and be tolerable to the patient. Close interdisciplinary contacts of medical and radiological oncologists are therefore necessary. Radiotherapy should be carried out under conditions of high-voltage energy and modern treatment planning to concentrate and limit the irradiation volume as much as possible. Split-course technique and radiation as interval treatment between chemotherapy courses seem to be optimal. Our clinical results indicate that the reported radioresistance of renal cell carcinoma might result from radiobiological and methodological misinterpretations.