Renal cell carcinoma in peritoneal dialysis patients

Renal cell carcinoma is a rare but serious complication in ESRD patients. In these patients the incidence of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is 20-40 times higher than in the general population. We performed a retrospective study to measure the incidence rate, prevalence, characteristics and survival among our peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma. The study was carried out among 607 patients who were on the PD program from January 1997 to June 2002. RCC was detected in eight patients (four males and four females) with mean age of 52.1 +/- 10.6 years. Among these eight patients four were new cases that were diagnosed before the patients were started on dialysis (three in native kidneys and one in a transplanted kidney). In the other four patients the RCC was diagnosed after they had been on dialysis for 33-204 months (mean 60.75 +/- 50.48). We found an incidence rate of 1.3 per 1000 patients per year and a prevalence of 1.3%. Six of the eight patients had renal cysts. Tumor size was less than 7 cm in seven patients and in the other patient it was 8.5 cm. Seven of eight patients were alive at the time of study with a survival time ranging from 3-138 months (mean 122.25 +/- 88.2) months. In one patient, the RCC metastasised to the scalp, and, in two other patients, the tumors subsequently involved the second kidney. A cardiovascular complication was the cause of one death. Two patients received a renal transplant 36 and 66 months after diagnosis. We conclude that despite the low rate of metastases and mortality in our study, regular ultrasonography should be added to the follow-up of PD patients. Renal transplantation can be considered in these ESRD patients with RCC; however, close follow-up for metastases is recommended.