Partial versus radical nephrectomy for T1b renal cell carcinoma: A comparison of efficacy and prognostic factors based on the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database

Abstract Objectives This study compared the long-term efficacy and prognostic factors of partial nephrectomy (PN) and radical nephrectomy (RN) for T1bN0M0 renal cell carcinoma (RCC) using data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Materials and methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 12,471 patients diagnosed with T1bN0M0 RCC from the SEER database between 2010 and 2019. Patients were divided into the PN and RN groups, and propensity score matching was conducted to balance the differences between the groups. We compared overall survival (OS), RCC cancer–specific mortality (CSM), and noncancer-specific mortality (NCSM) between the two groups. The risk factors for all-cause and RCC-related mortality were analyzed. Results After propensity score matching, there were 3817 patients in each group. After matching, OS and NCSM were significantly longer in the PN group ( p < 0.001); however, there was no significant between-group difference in the RCC-CSM. The hazard ratio (HR) for all-cause mortality was significantly lower in the PN group (HR, 0.671; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.579–0.778, p < 0.001), but PN was not associated with lower RCC-related mortality. Subgroup analysis showed that PN reduced the HR of all-cause mortality by 35% (HR, 0.647; 95% CI, 0.536–0.781; p < 0.001) in patients with 4.0- to 5.5-cm tumors compared with RN and by 29% (HR, 0.709; 95% CI, 0.559–0.899; p = 0.004) in those with larger tumors (5.6–7.0 cm). Multifactorial analysis showed that PN was an independent predictor of OS (HR, 0.671; 95% CI, 0.579–0.778; p < 0.001). In addition, multivariate analysis validated that age at diagnosis, sex, pathological grade, and tumor size were associated with outcomes. Conclusions In patients with T1b RCC, PN resulted in better OS and NCSM outcomes than RN. The benefit of PN in all-cause mortality was pronounced in patients with 4.0–5.5 cm tumor loads. Therefore, individualized treatment schemes should prioritize PN, when technically feasible.