Age changes in metastatic patterns in renal adenocarcinoma

The metastatic pattern in primary renal adenocarcinoma with respect to age has been studied by analyzing the necropsy records of 1828 patients. Metastasis-free cases were noticeably frequent in the patients over 70 years of age. The metastatic pattern varied with age and was classified grossly into four types according to the age-associated change in frequency: (1) diminishing; (2) increasing; (3) peaked; and (4) invariable. The incidence of hematogenous metastases showed little or no relation to advancing age whereas dissemination, which was possibly lymphogenous, was found to diminish as the age advanced, the latter trend being especially conspicuous in patients with lymph nodes distant from the primary lesion. It has been inferred that organs displaying comparable tendencies of age-associated change in frequency of metastasis may share the same route of dissemination.