Prognostic factors in renal cell carcinoma.

Several well-established prognostic factors are now available for RCC and have proven utility for patient counseling and management. Consideration of these factors allows for a rational stratification of patients into clinical trials and facilitates the comparison of reports from diverse institutions. Tumor stage remains the most important prognostic factor for RCC, but compelling data have also been accumulated in support of various clinical signs and symptoms, tumor grade, size, histologic subtype, and DNA content and nuclear morphometry. Novel efforts to integrate these factors show great promise and are likely to incorporate molecular factors in the near future.