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Query: UMLS:C0677930 (primary tumor)
 20,210 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The success of cancer therapy depends on the destruction of all viable cancer cells in the primary site, as well as in metastatic areas. Surgery alone can do little for the patient whose tumor has produced distant involvement except in those situations where surgical excision, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or immunotherapy can be relied on to eradicate metastatic disease. Because of the paucity of systemic therapy for renal cell carcinoma, an aggressive surgical approach to the primary tumor is justifiable when all metastatic lesions can be excised or otherwise definitively treated and in experimental protocols in which adjuvant therapy of possible benefit can be combined with palliative nephrectomy. There is no evidence, however, in reported studies to suggest that routine palliative nephrectomy in patients who will not be offered adjuvant systemic therapy or radiation is beneficial. Such practice is also associated with a higher incidence of complications and mortality than is expected for resection of localized renal cell carcinoma. For these reasons, it is reasonable to recommend adjunctive nephrectomy only in certain selected instances, which include (1) the control of a patient's current symptoms related to the primary disease, for example, flank pain, hematuria, fever and toxicity, anemia, erythrocytosis, and hypercalcemia; (2) nephrectomy with the excision of a solitary metastasis; and (3) the patient who is willing to undergo experimental therapy, part of which involves removal of the primary tumor.
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PMID:The failure of infarction and/or nephrectomy in stage IV renal cell cancer to influence survival or metastatic regression. 331 66

In the era before cytokine therapy, controversy existed about the need for cytoreductive nephrectomy in treating patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. In 1978, Dekernion showed that nephrectomy alone had no effect on survival. During this period, removal of the malignant kidney was confined to palliative therapy in some settings of metastatic RCC, such as pain related to the kidney mass, intractable hematuria, erythrocytosis, uncontrolled hypertension, or poorly controlled hypercalcemia. When interleukin-2 was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1992, the role of nephrectomy was reexamined. After a decade of controversy, two randomized controlled studies established that cytoreductive surgery has a role in properly selected patients and offers a survival advantage when done before cytokine therapy. Unfortunately, the mechanisms underlying this benefit remain poorly understood. Immunotherapy may work best when there is a small volume of cancer present, and removing a large primary tumor may prevent the seeding of additional metastases. Data have also suggested that primary tumors were capable of producing immunosuppressive compounds that might decrease the efficacy of immunotherapy. Another hypothesis suggested that removing the kidney altered the acid/base status of the patient to such an extent that the growth of the tumor was hindered. With the emergence in 2006 of two targeted agents for advanced renal cell carcinoma, the role of cytoreductive nephrectomy has re-emerged as a source of controversy. Although evidence-based medical practice suggests a role for nephrectomy before the use of targeted agents, the arguments for and against this practice will be weighed.
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PMID:Cytoreductive nephrectomy for metastatic renal cell carcinoma: is it still imperative in the era of targeted therapy? 1725 95