Prognostic implications of cytogenetic findings in kidney cancer

Objective To evaluate the prognostic impact of cytogenetic findings in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Patients and methods Tumour cytogenetics, histomorphology, DNA ploidy and S-phase fraction, stage, size, and grade were related to survival in 50 consecutive patients with RCC. The mean follow-up was 3.9 years (median 4.2, range 0 - 8.8). Results The predictive probability for recurrence-free survival at 5 years (5-year RFS) for all 50 patients was 0.54. There was a significant association between the degree of cytogenetic complexity and survival, in that patients with five or less aberrations had a better prognosis than those with more than five changes (5-year RFS 0.71 and 0.43, respectively; P < 0.05). Patients with del(8p)/-8, +12, and +20 had a significantly worse prognosis compared with those without these aberrations. Of the well-known prognostic variables grade and stage, the former was far better for predicting prognosis, A Spearman correlation test showed a significant covariation of grade with the S-phase fraction, T-stage, and cytogenetic complexity. Conclusion The degree of cytogenetic complexity and recurrent cytogenetic abnormalities affect the prognosis in RCC, although grade was the most reliable independent prognostic factor predicting disease recurrence.