Dr. Wysock on the Role of Cytoreductive Nephrectomy in RCC

James Wysock, MD, chief of the urology service at NYC Health and Hospitals at Bellevue, assistant professor, Department of Urology, NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center, discusses the role of cytoreductive nephrectomy in renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Cytoreductive nephrectomy surgically removes most of the cancer in a patient, with the understanding that some will remain. However, as a treatment for patients with RCC, Wysock says that this approach is beneficial—demonstrating an improvement in overall survival in trials of patients with advanced or metastatic RCC.

Surgical resection remains the standard of care for the majority of patients with RCC, but ongoing studies have begun to address the question of whether additional therapy in conjunction with cytoreductive nephrectomy could create more durable and long-lasting responses.