Gender and renal cancer: do variations in clinical presentation and imaging patterns explain observed differences...

To determine whether gender variations in imaging and healthcare access are contributing to observed differences in renal cancer, we examine the initial events in the diagnosis of renal masses in a cohort of patients and correlate it with detailed data on imaging patterns over the same period.

A total of 308 patients diagnosed with a renal mass over 11 years were reviewed. Information on symptoms, imaging, diagnosing physician, demographics, and pathology was gathered. Data on imaging for 1 862 485 patients at our institution over the same period were also collected. The data were analyzed for temporal trends, gender variations, and differences between incidental and nonincidental masses.

Females presented with smaller masses (4.8 vs 6.0 cm, P = .0064), and were less likely to have clear cell tumors (58.7% vs 63.4%, P = .049). A total of 66.9% of female and 61.1% of male cases were incidental (not significant). In both males and females, primary care physicians were the most common diagnosing physicians (47.4% and 49.6%, respectively). Gynecologic complaints were an uncommon cause of diagnosis for women (5.3%). Computerized tomography was the most common diagnosing modality for both males and females (69.1% and 63.2%, respectively). Ultrasound as the diagnosing modality did not reach statistical significance between males and females (23.4% and 28.6%, respectively). During the 11- year period, women underwent more imaging studies overall than men (19.7% difference), but the difference was lower when only considering studies that can diagnose renal masses (6.4% difference).

Gender variations in imaging rates and presentation for obstetrics/gynecology concerns by females did not lead to a significant difference in incidental diagnosis and do not appear adequate to explain gender differences in renal cancer presentation.