In a recent study published in Journal of Urology and involving over 100 mostly older patients, almost all of the patients with small kidney tumours never developed advanced cancer or died of the disease during more than 4 years of follow-up in active surveillance.
More than half of the patients remained alive without metastatic disease at the last follow-up. Two of 103 patients developed metastatic disease, one of whom died of kidney cancer.
The authors concluded: “Nearly 50% of patients in our cohort died of a competing cause throughout follow-up, indicating that active treatment would not likely have been beneficial. However, there is limited evidence on the application of active surveillance in younger and healthier patients. Although most renal masses grow slowly, during a longer time, significant changes in size could be seen, and it is likely that many patients with longer life expectancy would ultimately require treatment. Therefore, even longer follow-up is needed to clarify the role of active surveillance in young and healthy patients.”
Read more in Medpage Today here
