Prognostic relevance of the histological subtype of renal cell carcinoma

OBJECTIVE: According to several studies, when the histological subtype of renal cell carcinoma is established it is possible to attribute a different life expectancy to each patient. We analyzed the prognostic significance of the histological subtype in renal cell carcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The authors retrospectively analyzed the follow-up of 230 patients after radical or conservative renal surgery. The histological characteristics of the different subtypes of tumor were obtained and the disease-free and cancer-specific survival curves for the clear cell, cromophobic, papillary, collecting duct (Bellini) subtypes and those with sarcomatoid differentiation were individualized. RESULTS: The disease-free and cancer-specific survival rates for clear cell tumors were 76.6% and 68.0% respectively, 71.2% and 82.1% respectively for the cromophobic type, 71.1% and 79.8% respectively for the papillary type, 26.9% and 39.3% respectively for the sarcomatoid type, and 0.0% and 0.0% respectively for the collecting ducts (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The histological subtypes of renal tumors can stratify patients into different prognostic groups only when the sarcomatoid differentiation is present.