Chemotherapy of metastatic renal cancer

The appearance of metastatic disease heralds disaster for the vast majority of patients with renal carcinoma. A few spontaneous regressions of established metastases have been reported but no systemic chemotherapeutic treatment withstood the test of time or critical analysis. This analysis requires objective remissions in measurable metastatic disease evaluated against well-defined prognostic factors in relation to survival with quality of life for the patient. No single agent chemotherapy achieved a desired 20% response rate and only a few combination studies, especially with immunotherapy, reported significant clinical results. We recommend that the variable biological potential of renal metastatic disease be harnessed in prospective multicentric phase I/II trials with strict response and prognostic criteria to search for new antineoplastic agents for this disease.