A recent study published in JAMA Network Open looked at the data from over 10,000 renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients from the International Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Database Consortium (IMDC) and reported on the sites of metastases for three of the RCC subtypes and their survival outcomes.

Metastases from clear cell RCC (9252 patients, 92%) were most often found in the lungs, adrenal gland, brain, and pancreas. Lymph nodes were found to be a more frequent site of metastases for patients with papillary RCC (667 patients, 7%), and liver was more frequently affected in patients with chromophobe RCC (186 patients, 2%). For patients with clear cell RCC, survival outcomes varied based on the site of the metastases. Although pancreas and thyroid metastases were associated with favourable overall survival, liver, brain, and pleural (the membrane covering the lungs) metastases were related to poor overall survival.

This in-depth analysis of the sites of metastatic spread in RCC subtypes offers insights into the metastatic development of clear cell, papillary and chromophobe RCC and also provides data to help with a clinical prognosis in these three RCC subtypes.

Read more in JAMA Network Open here