Postoperative surveillance imaging for patients undergoing nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma

The American Urological Association and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines regarding postoperative surveillance for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) have provided a standardized framework for imaging following nephrectomy. These stage-stratified recommendations are based on retrospective studies that identified the timeline and location of RCC recurrences. However, the simplified and generalizable protocols offered by the American Urological Association and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network are not without limitations. Studies have found that RCC recurrences continue to be missed even with perfect compliance to these protocols and that RCC recurrences occur not infrequently after the required surveillance window of 5 years. Furthermore, recent studies evaluating the use of adjuvant systemic therapy in patients who are at a high risk for RCC recurrence or metastasis after nephrectomy have yielded disappointing results. This calls into question what interventions we can offer patients to improve survival once RCC recurrences are detected during postoperative surveillance; an effective surveillance strategy requires effective treatment options. The future of personalized medicine with genetic profiling of patients with RCC may offer a potential solution by providing better risk stratification to determine the intensity of surveillance imaging as well as to determine which patients will actually derive survival benefit from intervention on recurrent disease.