BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common form of kidney cancer, and the incidence is rising, especially in developed countries. Limited published data on the survival and prognosis of RCC patients in Malaysia has prompted us to investigate the clinico-pathological characteristics and prognostic significance of presenting symptoms on a cohort of RCC patients from University Malaya Medical Centre.
The majority of RCC patients were symptomatic at presentation (76.8%) and this conferred an unfavourable prognosis compared to asymptomatic patients. Incidental detection of RCC is still low here, but there has been an increase in recent years, comparing 2003-2007 (19.6%) and 2008-2012 (25.3%). Among the symptoms analysed, clinically palpable abdominal mass was an independent prognostic factor. Palpable tumours were significantly larger in size and were associated with symptomatic presentation. Besides palpable abdominal mass, TNM Classification of Malignant Tumours staging was also a strong prognostic predictor.
Although a single centre analysis, this patient cohort has given us a valuable insight on RCC patient clinical characteristics and outcome after diagnosis.
Written by:
Ning Yi Yap as part of Beyond the Abstract on UroToday.com. This initiative offers a method of publishing for the professional urology community. Authors are given an opportunity to expand on the circumstances, limitations etc... of their research by referencing the published abstract.
Department of Surgery, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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