[External validation of the University of Los Angeles Integrated Staging System (UISS) in localized renal cell carcinoma: single center study].

OBJECTIVE: To assess the ability of the University of Los Angeles Integrated Staging System (UISS) to stratify patients with a renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in one single French centre.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Four hundred and forty-three patients operated for a RCC in the Urological Department of Strasbourg University Hospital between January 1989 and December 2000 were classified according to the UISS, which combines TNM stage, Fuhrman grade and Eastern cooperative oncology group performance status. Two groups were created: 362 patients with localized and 81 patients with metastatic RCC.

RESULTS: The UISS stratified the localized RCC into three different risk groups (p<0.0001). The 5-year survival rates were 75, 61 and 29% for low-, intermediate- and high-risk groups, respectively. For the metastatic RCC, the UISS couldn't well discriminate (p=0.092), with the 5-year survival rates of 18, 9 and 12% for low-, intermediate- and high-risk groups, respectively.

CONCLUSION: This study validates the UISS for predicting survival in patients with localised RCC in our centre and, therefore, qualifies us to participate in clinical trials using this model. In metastatic RCC, the UISS was less accurate due to the small number of patients and the heterogeneity of treatments.