This is how the eighth most prevalent cancer in Spain is diagnosed and treated, which will add around 10,000 new cases in 2025.

In Spain, kidney cancer is the eighth most prevalent cancer, with an estimated 9,774 new cases in 2025 and 2,245 deaths in 2023, according to the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology ( SEOM ) on the occasion of World Kidney Cancer Day this Thursday, June 19.

Currently, the most common form of diagnosis is incidental findings in imaging studies performed for other reasons in asymptomatic patients, which has contributed to early detection and, consequently, an improved prognosis for the disease.

Fifteen years ago, patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) treated with surgery alone or interferon only achieved median survival times of 5-7 months. Currently, therapeutic sequencing of targeted drugs or immunotherapy allows survival rates to exceed 40 months while maintaining good quality of life.

Furthermore, pembrolizumab , an anti-PD1 monoclonal antibody, has consolidated its benefit in overall survival in the adjuvant setting , positioning itself as an effective strategy in patients with intermediate/high risk of relapse after nephrectomy.

Therapeutic sequencing

In routine clinical practice, patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma typically receive a series of treatments throughout their disease course, aimed at prolonging survival while maintaining a good quality of life. Using standard strategies , median survival rates of over 40 months are achieved in certain populations.

In first-line therapy, the choice of treatment should be based on the availability of approved treatments , the patient's prognostic group (according to criteria such as the IMDC), and comorbidities. In general, combinations of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and immunotherapy have demonstrated benefits in response rates, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) compared with TKI monotherapy. Second-line therapy will be primarily determined by the therapy received in first-line therapy.

Key future challenges include optimizing the sequencing of immunotherapy, TKIs, and HIF-2 inhibitors, as well as identifying predictive biomarkers that enable more effective and personalized strategies.