Management of local recurrence after radical nephrectomy: surgical removal with or without systemic treatment is still the gold standard. Results from a multicenter international cohort

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the survival outcomes of patients with local recurrence after radical nephrectomy (RN) and to test the effect of surgery, as monotherapy or in combination with systemic treatment, on cancer-specific mortality (CSM). METHODS: Patients with local recurrence after RN were abstracted from an international dataset. The primary outcome was CSM. Cox’s proportional hazard models tested the main predictors of CSM. Kaplan–Meier method estimates the 3-year survival rates. RESULTS: Overall, 96 patients were included. Of these, 44 (45.8%) were metastatic at the time of recurrence. The median time to recurrence after RN was 14.5 months. The 3-year cancer-specific survival rates after local recurrence were 92.3% (± 7.4%) for those who were treated with surgery and systemic therapy, 63.2% (± 13.2%) for those who only underwent surgery, 22.7% (± 0.9%) for those who only received systemic therapy and 20.5% (± 10.4%) for those who received no treatment (p < 0.001). Receiving only medical treatment (HR: 5.40, 95% CI 2.06–14.15, p = 0.001) or no treatment (HR: 5.63, 95% CI 2.21–14.92, p = 0.001) were both independently associated with higher CSM rates, even after multivariable adjustment. Following surgical treatment of local recurrence 8 (16.0%) patients reported complications, and 2/8 were graded as Clavien–Dindo ≥ 3. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical treatment of local recurrence after RN, when feasible, should be offered to patients. Moreover, its association with a systemic treatment seems to warrantee adjunctive advantages in terms of survival, even in the presence of metastases. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11255-021-02966-9.