Surgical outcomes of nephrectomy for elderly patients with renal cell carcinoma

OBJECTIVE: The feasibility of curative surgery for elderly patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) remains controversial and under discussion. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term benefits of curative surgery as a treatment for RCC in elderly patients. METHODS: We retrospectively considered 672 patients with RCC who underwent partial nephrectomy or radical nephrectomy between January 2004 and July 2014. X-tile program was used to determine the optimal age cutoff values with CSS as endpoint. RESULTS: Patients were divided into the following groups according to their age using the method of X-tile program: a young group (< 40 years), a young-old group (40-75) and an old-old group (≥ 75). Following multivariate analysis age ≥ 75 years was determined to be an independent risk factor for overall survival (HR=4.36; 95% CI: 1.31-14.48; P=0.016); interestingly, this was not the case for cancer-specific survival (HR = 2.65; 95%CI: 0.77-9.16; P=0.124). Furthermore, an age of 40 to 75 years was not a risk factor according to univariate and multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: After determining the age cutoff values, there was no significant difference in prognosis between young and old patients with RCC.