Comparison of prognosis between patients with renal cell carcinoma on hemodialysis and those with renal cell carcinoma in the general population

We compared the clinical features and prognosis of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) between patients on hemodialysis (RCC-HD) and those in the general population (RCC-general). We included a total of 1,794 patients who underwent surgery (RCC-HD, 408; RCC-general, 1,386) and analyzed the clinical characteristics and oncological outcomes using a stage-for-stage analysis between the two groups. In the RCC-HD group, the mean duration of dialysis before surgery was 120 months. Compared to the RCC-general group, the RCC-HD group tended to be younger (55 vs. 60 years, p < 0.0001) and more predominately male (84 % vs. 70 %, p < 0.0001), and the tumor size was smaller in this group (39 vs. 49 mm, p < 0.0001). The pathological characteristics of the RCC-HD group included a higher frequency of papillary tumors (22 % vs. 5 %, p < 0.0001) and stage I tumors (82 % vs. 68 %, p < 0.0001). During the follow-up period, 39 of patients (10 %) in the RCC-HD group and 193 patients (14 %) in the RCC-general group died of cancer. The patients on hemodialysis had better cancer-specific survival (CSS) than their counterparts (p = 0.0292) in the univariable analysis, but no significance was found in the multivariable analysis. In the stage-for-stage analysis, the 5-year CSS was similar between the two groups for each stage. CSS appeared to be better in the RCC-HD group than in the RCC-general group, which may be associated with the higher incidence of stage I disease in the RCC-HD group. The comparable CSS between the groups in the stage-for-stage analysis supports this finding.