Recent developments in kidney cancer

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) diagnosis and management have undergone significant shifts in the recent past. The increasing rate of diagnosis of small renal masses, often in patients at high risk of morbidity with operative treatment, has led to studies, trials and discoveries in renal mass biopsy, active surveillance and minimally invasive thermal ablation. At the other end of the disease spectrum, targeted systemic therapies for metastatic RCC have supplanted cytokine-based treatment, with significant benefits to progression and survival. Recent reviews and trials have also cemented the role of partial nephrectomy as standard surgical management for most low-stage masses, and the roles of regional lymphadenectomy and adrenalectomy concomitant with nephrectomy have been clarified. This review aims to highlight recent evidence that has emerged in the management of this complicated oncologic issue.