Dr. Nanus Discusses Adjuvant Therapy for RCC

David M. Nanus, MD, medical oncologist, Weill Cornell Medicine/NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, discusses adjuvant therapy for patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Investigators are asking if there is anything to do for patients with RCC who have a high risk of relapse after surgery other than observation. Nanus says that for a long time, there was no improvement in overall survival in trials of adjuvant therapy. But, recently, a study of sunitinib (Sutent) in patients with high-risk RCC showed an improvement in progression-free survival.

Although there has been no improvement in overall survival yet, the NCCN guidelines changed to offer sunitinib adjuvant therapy as an option for these patients. The FDA then approved the agent for use as an adjuvant therapy in patients with RCC who have received nephrectomy and are at high risk for recurrence. This was based on the phase III S-TRAC trial, in which adjuvant sunitinib prolonged disease-free survival by 1.2 years compared with placebo following nephrectomy.