Surveillance following radical or partial nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma.
Lam JS, Leppert JT, Figlin RA, Belldegrun AS.
Department of Urology, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, 10833 Le Conte Avenue, 66-118 CHS, Box 951738, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1738, USA.
Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most lethal of the common urologic malignancies, with approximately 40% of patients eventually dying of cancer progression. Approximately one third of patients present with metastatic disease and up to 50% treated for localized disease have a recurrence. Although the prognosis generally is poor in these patients, some may respond to immunotherapy and a subset of patients who develop solitary metastases can achieve long-term survival. Therefore, the timely identification of recurrences following surgical extirpation is imperative in the treatment of patients.
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PMID: 15610692 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]