Pancreatic metastases from renal cell carcinoma. Postoperative outcome after surgical treatment in a Spanish multicenter study (PANMEKID)

Abstract

Background: Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC) occasionally spreads to the pancreas. The purpose of our study is to evaluate the short and long-term results of a multicenter series in order to determine the effect of surgical treatment on the prognosis of these patients. Methods: Multicenter retrospective study of patients undergoing surgery for RCC pancreatic metastases, from January 2010 to May 2020. Variables related to the primary tumor, demographics, clinical char- acteristics of metastasis, location in the pancreas, type of pancreatic resection performed and data on short and long-term evolution after pancreatic resection were collected. Results: The study included 116 patients. The mean time between nephrectomy and pancreatic metas- tases’ resection was 87.35 months (ICR: 1.51-332.55). Distal pancreatectomy was the most performed technique employed (50 %). Postoperative morbidity was observed in 60.9 % of cases (Clavien-Dindo greater than IIIa in 14 %). The median follow-up time was 43 months (13-78). Overall survival (OS) rates at 1, 3, and 5 years were 96 %, 88 %, and 83 %, respectively. The disease-free survival (DFS) rate at 1, 3, and 5 years was 73 %, 49 %, and 35 %, respectively. Significant prognostic factors of relapse were a disease free interval of less than 10 years (2.05 [1.13-3.72], p 0.02) and a history of previous extrapancreatic metastasis (2.44 [1.22-4.86], p 0.01). Conclusions: Pancreatic resection if metastatic RCC is found in the pancreas is warranted to achieve higher overall survival and disease-free survival, even if extrapancreatic metastases were previously removed. The existence of intrapancreatic multifocal compromise does not always warrant the perfor- mance of a total pancreatectomy in order to improve survival.