The Role of Nephrectomy for Kidney Cancer in the Era of Targeted and Immune Therapies.

Although two phase III trials support the recommendation of nephrectomy followed by interferon alpha in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC), this procedure cannot be applied to every patient with this condition. Systemic therapy has changed from interferon alpha to antiangiogenic-targeted therapy, and the clinical impact of nephrectomy in the era of targeted therapy has not been proven. The SEER database shows that only 35% of patients with advanced RCC undergo nephrectomy as their initial treatment. Retrospective studies showed improved overall survival (OS) outcomes with nephrectomy and interleukin-2 (IL-2) therapy; however, the inherent selection bias of younger and healthier patients receiving IL-2 likely accounts for this finding. Neoadjuvant therapy has demonstrated only modest efficacy in unresectable disease, and if remission is obtained with systemic therapy, it is unclear whether nephrectomy has any incremental benefit. In the absence of proven benefit of nephrectomy in the setting of targeted therapy, it seems advisable for patients with RCC with severely symptomatic disease, competing comorbidities, poor performance status, or unresectable disease to avoid nephrectomy and proceed directly to systemic therapy. The clinical implications of deferred cytoreductive nephrectomy for patients with metastatic RCC are poorly understood, and patient cohorts that do not undergo this procedure are likely to be comprised of patients with unfavorable disease characteristics. Unfortunately, the completed trials of targeted therapy were 90% comprised of patients with prior nephrectomy (the majority of trials incorporate prior nephrectomy as an eligibility requirement) and hence may not reflect the outcomes of the majority of the patients with advanced RCC who have not undergone nephrectomy. Newer therapies such as nivolumab and cabozantinib have also been evaluated for a population in which 90% of the patients underwent nephrectomy. Future clinical trials and registry studies must focus on the therapeutic treatment and overall outcome of patients without nephrectomy and treated with contemporary systemic therapy.