The impact of family history on pathological and clinical outcomes in non-syndromic clear cell renal cell carcinoma

Objective: To investigate the impact of family history on pathological and clinical outcomes after surgery for clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) in patients with non-syndromic disease.

Patients and methods: We reviewed 2677 patients treated with radical nephrectomy or nephron-sparing surgery for non-cystic ccRCC between 1970 and 2004 to identify patients with a family history of ccRCC. Patients with von Hippel-Lindau, tuberous sclerosis, or Birt-Hogg-Dube syndrome were excluded from analysis. Demographics and clinico-pathological outcomes were compared to patients with ccRCC without a family history of kidney cancer using chi-squared and Fisher's exact tests. Postoperative cancer-specific survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method.

Results: We identified 42 patients (1.6%) with a family history of ccRCC who were treated for non-cystic ccRCC, with a median follow-up of 4.7 years (range 1-34). Demographics and tumour characteristics, including tumour stage and grade, were similar between the two groups. Patients with a family history of ccRCC were more likely to have bilateral tumours (11.9 vs 2.2%, P= 0.003). Nevertheless, cancer-specific survival rates for patients with and without a family history of ccRCC were similar at 5 years (75.7 vs 71.1%) and 10 years (53.9 vs 62.2%).

Conclusions: Patients with a family history of ccRCC have pathological and clinical outcomes similar to patients with sporadic ccRCC. The increased incidence of bilateral tumours associated with a family history of ccRCC provides further evidence to support a nephron-sparing surgical approach when feasible.