Postoperative prophylactic use of progesterone in renal cell carcinoma.

Medroxyprogesterone acetate has been used prophylactically in 35 patients with stages I and IIIA renal cell carcinoma who had undergone radical nephrectomy. Metastasis was noted in 26 per cent (9 of 35) of the patients who had received the drug and in 44 per cent (20 of 45) of those who had not (controls). The incidence of metastasis in patients who had undergone nephrectomy more than 3 years previously was 10 per cent (3 of 31) for patients who received medroxyprogesterone acetate and 35 per cent (15 of 43) for the control group, the difference being statistically significant. Prognosis tended to be better in patients who had received medroxyprogesterone acetate than in the controls, and relative 3 and 5-year survival rates being 99.3 and 87.2 per cent, respectively, in the former group, and 86.8 and 75.0 per cent, respectively, in the latter group. There was no significant difference between these 2 groups. However, it may be concluded that prophylactic medroxyprogesterone acetate seems to be beneficial in the prevention of postoperative metastasis of renal cell carcinoma.