Dr. George Discusses an Analysis of the S-TRAC Study in RCC

Daniel J. George, MD, professor of medicine, surgery, member, Duke Cancer Institute, discusses an analysis of the S-TRAC study in renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

S-TRAC was a phase III, prospective, multicenter study looking at the effectiveness of sunitinib (Sutent) versus placebo in patients with RCC who were at high risk for disease recurrence—particularly patients with T3 or node-positive disease. George says that in a prospective study, treatment with sunitinib up to 1 year was found to delay disease-free survival by about 24%.

In an analysis of higher-risk patients with T3 or higher-grade disease, node-positive T4 disease, or a decreased performance status of 1 or less, investigators saw a greater overall benefit associated with 1 year of sunitinib. There was a 27% reduction in the risk of disease recurrence, which was a sustained benefit up to 5 years, George reports. He adds that as patients at a greater risk of recurrence are enriched, the benefit of sunitinib increases. This reinforces that high-risk patients benefit from sunitinib, especially those with T4 node-positive disease.