| Abstract: | Patients with brain metastasis (BM) from renal cell carcinoma (RCC) are associated with poor prognosis. Between 1990 and 2015, data of consecutive RCC patients with BM were retrospectively analyzed from a urologic oncologic database. The treatment outcome was evaluated by overall survival (OS), which was defined as interval from initial diagnosis of BM to death or last follow-up. Statistical analyses of clinical and pathological variables were performed using Cox regression and the Kaplan–Meier method. A total of 116 RCC patients with BM were included. Median time from initial diagnosis of RCC to BM was 15.8 months (95?% CI 11.6–20.0). Median OS after diagnosis of brain metastases of the whole cohort was 5.8 months (95?% CI 4.3–7.2). On multivariate Cox regression analysis, age and histology of non-clear cell RCC were associated with poorer outcome, while targeted therapy (n?=?26) (OS 9.9 months, 95?% CI 3.3–16.5) and BM resection (n?=?33) (OS 24.7 months, 95?% CI 4–40) were associated with better survival. Furthermore, patients who underwent both targeted therapy and BM resection (n?=?5) had the best outcome with median OS of 52.4 months. In conclusion, BM from RCC is associated with a poor oncological outcome. Furthermore, age and histology of non-clear cell RCC are risk factors for poor prognosis. Patients with resectable BM may comprise a better prognostic group. Here, a better OS for resected than unresected patients was observed, which warrants BM resection. A combined modality approach of resection and targeted therapy appears to further improve the outcome of these patients while additional radiation seems to add no benefit. |
