Clinical Profile and Outcome of Patients Operated on for Renal Cell Carcinoma: Experience from a Tertiary Care Center in a Developing Country

PURPOSE: With nearly 500,000 new cases and over 150,000 deaths worldwide in 2020, renal cancers remain a significant component of the global burden of cancer. The aim of this study is to describe the clinical presentation, peri-operative condition and short-term outcome of patients operated with the primary diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) at a large tertiary care referral center. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective institution-based study was done. The study population consisted of all patients who were operated for a primary diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma from January 1st, 2015, to December 31st, 2020, at the Urology Unit of St Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College. RESULTS: The final cohort consisted of 107 patients (mean (standard deviation) age 49 (±14) years, 48% male, 46% residence in Addis Ababa). The most common presenting complaint was flank pain (65%), followed by hematuria (34%) and abdominal mass (6%). One patient had the classic triad of RCC. The median (IQR) duration of illness was 9(7–11) months. Fourteen (13%) patients were asymptomatic and diagnosed incidentally. Over half (57%) of the cohort were clinical TNM stage II, with the remaining 17%, 18% and 8% being stage I, III and IV, respectively. Nearly all patients (94%) underwent open radical nephrectomy with a transabdominal approach. Most patients (61%) had no Clavien-Dindo grade complications, and a minority (11%) experienced post-operative complications (7% postoperative bleeding, 6% hospital acquired pneumonia, 3% surgical site infection). The median (IQR) length of stay was 6 (5–7.6) days. Nearly all patients (94%) were discharged and improved. CONCLUSION: In this retrospective study, we have shown that patients operated for RCC are a low-risk cohort with few comorbidities, have a relatively short symptomatic course and good discharge outcome. Further prospective studies are needed to show the long-term outcome and factors associated with such outcomes in this patient population.