Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To examine the performance of Leibovich score versus GRade, Age, Nodes, and Tumor score in predicting disease recurrence in renal cell carcinoma. METHODS: In total, 7653 patients diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma from 2010 to 2018 were captured in the nationwide DaRenCa database; 2652 underwent radical or partial nephrectomy and had full datasets regarding the GRade, Age, Nodes, and Tumor score and Leibovich score. Discrimination was assessed with a Cox regression model. The results were evaluated with concordance index analysis. RESULTS: Median follow-up was 40 months (interquartile range 24-56). Recurrence occurred in 17%, and 15% died. A significant proportion of patients (36%) had missing data for the calculation of the Leibovich score. Among 1957 clear cell renal cell carcinoma patients the distribution of GRade, Age, Nodes, and Tumor score of 0, 1, 2, or 3/4 was 21%, 56%, 21% and 1.4%, respectively, and for Leibovich score of low/intermediate/high this was 47%, 36% and 18%, respectively. A similar distribution was seen in 655 non-clear cell patients. Both Leibovich and GRade, Age, Nodes, and Tumor scores performed well in predicting outcomes for the favorable patient risk groups. The Leibovich score was better at predicting recurrence-free survival (concordance index 0.736 versus 0.643), but not overall survival (concordance index 0.657 versus 0.648). Similar results were obtained in non-clear cell renal cell carcinoma. CONCLUSION: GRade, Age, Nodes, and Tumor and Leibovich scores were validated in clear cell and non-clear cell renal cell carcinoma. Leibovich score outperformed the GRade, Age, Nodes, and Tumor score in predicting recurrence-free survival and should remain the standard approach to risk stratify patients during follow-up when all data are available.