Complete response after treatment with first-line targeted anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy in metastatic renal cancer: what next?

In a recent issue of European Urology, Buchler et al. (1) reported population-based results from a cohort of patients who achieved complete response (CR) after treatment with first-line targeted anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy. From the initial cohort of 2,803 patients, 100 individuals achieving CR were identified (3.6%). The median time from treatment initiation to CR was 10.1 months. Median progression-free survival (PFS) from therapy initiation was 3.8 years (95% CI: 2.9–4.6 years) and the 5-year overall survival (OS) was 80% (95% CI: 70%–91%). There was no statistically-significant difference in survival rates between patients continuing or discontinuing treatment after achieving CR.