Kidney Cancer Treatment Rates Rising, But So is Mortality

NEW YORK SEP 19, 2006 (Reuters Health) - While more renal tumors are now being treated with surgery and other modalities, and more of these tumors are small, mortality continues to rise, according to a brief report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute for September 20. 

To better understand this "treatment disconnect," Dr. Brent K. Hollenbeck, from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues analyzed patient data from nine registries of the National Cancer Institute"s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program.  Data from 34,503 kidney cancer patients were included in the analysis. 

Between 1983 and 2002, the number of kidney cancer cases per 100,000 US population rose from 7.1 to 10.8.  Further analysis revealed that this increase was primarily due to a rise in renal masses no greater than 4 cm in size. 

At the same time, surgery rates, particularly for small renal tumors, increased.  Overall, from 1983 to 2002, the number of surgeries rose from 0.9 to 3.6 per 100,000 US population.

Despite increased treatment, all-cause mortality among kidney cancer patients climbed from 1.5 to 6.5 deaths per 100,000 US population during the study period.  The greatest rise in mortality was for patients with tumors larger than 7 cm in size.

"The current paradigm for treating kidney cancer is not based on empiricism, and these findings call to question the appropriateness of extirpative surgery in all patients with small renal tumors," the researchers conclude.

SOURCE:

• J Natl Cancer Inst 2006;98:1331-1334.