A study conducted by researchers at the Mannheim Medical Centre in Germany looked at cancer-specific outcomes in 7,543 European and North American patients who underwent radical or partial nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma (RCC). There were 1,943 patients with papillary RCC and 5,600 with clear cell RCC. The median follow-up was 64.6 months.

The results showed that cancer-specific mortality among patients with non-metastatic RCC who underwent surgery varied according to the subtype of RCC.

Compared with clear cell RCC, there was a significant 24% reduction in cancer-specific mortality for people with papillary RCC. Type 1 papillary RCC was associated with a significant 69% decrease in the risk of death, while the researchers found no difference in cancer-specific mortality between type 2 papillary RCC and clear cell RCC.

The researchers concluded there is an urgent need to consider kidney cancer subtypes when deciding on follow-up or targeted therapy for RCC patients.

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