Treatment of osseous metastases in patients with renal cell carcinoma

The records of 99 patients treated at one institution for osseous metastases secondary to renal cell carcinoma were reviewed. Patients were followed up for at least 24 months or until death. Survival was analyzed with respect to age, gender, disease-free interval, location of osseous metastases, number of osseous metastatic sites, resection of osseous metastases, and primary tumor resection. The mean age of the 72 men and 27 women was 60 years (range, 34-82 years) and the mean followup was 20 months (range, 2-81 months). Twenty-six patients (26%) had a solitary osseous metastasis, 47 patients (48%) had multiple osseous metastases, and 26 patients (26%) had additional visceral involvement such as the lung and brain at the time of diagnosis. In 49 patients (49%), the renal cell carcinoma was diagnosed concurrently with detection of the osseous metastasis. The presence of one osseous renal carcinoma metastasis, wide resection of the lesion, and a history of nephrectomy were identified as independent predictors of survival in patients with renal cell carcinoma. The eight patients who had wide resection of a solitary osseous metastasis in combination with a nephrectomy had a disease-specific survival rate of 100% (mean followup, 69 months; range, 24-76 months). Patients who present with these characteristics are candidates for aggressive surgical treatment with curative intent.