Evidence-based clinical practice guideline for renal cell carcinoma: the Japanese Urological Association 2011 update

Remarkable advances have been made in medical practice in relation to renal cell carcinoma in recent years, and a large amount of new evidence has been accumulated. In keeping with the plan at the time the first version of the "Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guideline for Renal Cell Carcinoma" compiled by the Japanese Urological Association was published in 2007, the Japanese Urological Association has just published a revised 2011 version. The main revisions regard the selection of treatment methods according to prognostic factors, reconsideration of treatment methods for small-diameter renal cell carcinoma and selection criteria for medical treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma, including selection of neoadjuvant treatment with molecular targeted medicines. This Guideline presents clinical practice methods that are thought to be the most standard methods in Japan at the present time. In this English translation of a shortened version of the original Guideline, we cited particularly important clinical questions and references.