Contemporary Trends in Adjuvant and Neoadjuvant Treatment for Renal Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

Renal cell carcinoma has an important place among adult cancers. Although its overall incidence is reported as 2-3%, significant differences have been observed between countries (1). It is also important to note that its incidence is showing an upward trend. Its incidence has risen by more than 30% over the past 15 years (2). This clearly indicates that the significance of renal cell carcinoma will continue to grow. Early incidental diagnosis increases the rate of local disease and enables curative surgical treatment. However, a substantial proportion of patients, about 1 in 3, may develop metastatic disease within 5 years of curative surgery (3,4). Recurrence after curative surgery can involve metastatic disease, and mortality may be unavoidable (5). This shows that a significant proportion of patients who receive curative treatment will experience recurrence during follow-up, and raises the need to prevent recurrence by detecting patients at risk and providing adjuvant therapy in advance. Indeed,