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Kidney cancer can come back after surgery to remove the kidney (nephrectomy) in a part of the body that is close to the original tumour (local recurrence). There are a number of different treatments for local recurrence of kidney cancer, and the aim of this study was to compare these treatments with respect to disease progression and survival.
There were 106 people in the study with local recurrence of their kidney cancer after nephrectomy. These people did not have metastases in organs that were located away from the kidneys. Patients were treated with local therapy, such as surgery or stereotactic body radiation (SBRT), or targeted therapy or immunotherapy.
Of the 106 patients, about a third were treated with medicines, while just over two thirds were treated with surgery or SBRT. For patients treated with surgery or SBRT the time for their cancer to come back was significantly longer than with medicines (19.7 compared to 7.5 months). Nearly 92% of patients in the local therapy group survived for 2 years or more, while 72% in the medicines group survived 2 years or more.
Nine patients in the local therapy group reported a moderate side effect.
Local therapy could delay the progression of the cancer compared with medicines alone. SBRT is safe and effective for locally recurrent kidney cancer.