[A clinical study of renal cell carcinoma]

Eighty two cases of renal cell carcinoma, treated at our Department between July, 1971 and May, 1984, are reviewed. The highest incidence of this disease was seen in the 5th decade and the average age of the patients was 58.8 years. Male patients predominated over the female patients, the ratio being 1.6: 1. According to Robson's classification, thirty eight cases were in stage I, five cases in stage II, nine cases in stage III and thirty cases in stage IV. The overall survival rate at one, three and five years was 77, 58 and 48%, respectively. The most common symptom was macroscopic hematuria, followed by asymptomatic, lumbago and palpable mass. The site of distant metastases was most frequently in the lung, followed by the bone, liver and lymph node. There were no remarkable differences in the prognosis of stage I patients, between the group treated with preoperative renal arterial embolization and non-treated group. No remarkable difference was seen between the survival rate of the stage IV patients treated by nephrectomy and these not treated by nephrectomy. Renal arterial embolization was an effective therapeutic measure for patients with non-resectable stage IV renal cell carcinoma (p = 0.0647, compared with non-treated group).