Elsevier

Annals of Oncology

Volume 21, Issue 5, May 2010, Pages 1027-1031
Annals of Oncology

original articles
urogenital tumors
Incidence of brain metastases in renal cell carcinoma treated with sorafenib

https://doi.org/10.1093/annonc/mdp411Get rights and content
Under an Elsevier user license
open archive

Abstract

Background: This retrospective study evaluated the incidence of brain metastases in a subgroup of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) who were randomly assigned to receive sorafenib, an oral multikinase inhibitor (400 mg b.i.d.), versus placebo in the phase III Treatment Approaches in Renal Cancer Global Evaluation Trial (TARGET).

Patients and methods: Patients enrolled in TARGET at two centres (Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France, n = 85; Central Clinical Hospital of Military Medical Academy, Warsaw, Poland, n = 54) made up the current subgroup, who were retrospectively evaluated for the incidence of brain metastases during follow-up. The association between treatment (sorafenib versus placebo) and occurrence of brain metastases was evaluated by univariate analysis.

Results: The overall incidence of brain metastases in patients receiving sorafenib was 3% (2 of 70 patients) compared with 12% (8 of 69 patients) in patients receiving placebo (P < 0.05). The incidence of brain metastases was also significantly lower in the sorafenib group after 1 (P = 0.0447) and 2 years (P = 0.005) of treatment compared with the placebo group.

Conclusions: In this subpopulation, sorafenib may reduce the occurrence of brain metastases. Antiangiogenic therapy, such as sorafenib, could be an effective preventive therapy for brain metastases in advanced RCC.

Key words

antiangiogenic agents
brain metastases
renal cell carcinoma
sorafenib

Cited by (0)