[Prognosis of metastatic renal cell carcinoma related to the pattern of metastasis (author's transl)].

Hundred nine unselected patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma have been stratified into 3 groups according to their type of metastasis: 17 patients with sceletal involvement only, 67 patients with visceral metastases, and 21 patients with a mixed type of metastasis. Four patients with a locoregional pattern of recurrence were not included in the analysis. The survival data (evaluated by life table analysis and a modified Wilcoxon-Rang-test) revealed a better prognosis for patients presenting exclusively with osseous metastases compared to the group with visceral metastases. The patients with osseous metastases showed a median survival time from diagnosis of 29.9 months compared to 11.6 months in patients with visceral involvement. Considering only patients whose metastases have been detected after a period of latency post nephrectomy, there is a further increase in the survival in favour of the patients with sceletal metastases and the difference to the group with visceral metastases becomes statistically highly significant.