Dr. Yentz on Navigating Frontline Treatment Selection in RCC

Sarah Elizabeth Yentz, MD, clinical assistant professor, University of Michigan Health, medical oncologist, Brighton Center for Specialty Care, Rogel Cancer Center, Michigan Medicine, discusses navigating frontline treatment selection in renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

It can be difficult to select between available frontline regimens for patients with RCC. Moreover, patients are often eligible for several regimens, which further complicates treatment selection, Yentz explains.

For young patients with a low volume of disease, ipilimumab (Yervoy) in combination with nivolumab (Opdivo) is preferred because it can elicit durable complete responses, Yentz says. The combination regimens of immunotherapy and TKIs are preferred for patients with symptomatic, rapidly progressing disease because the rate of primary progression is lower with these doublets vs with ipilimumab/nivolumab.

Notably, many patients are candidates for ipilimumab/nivolumab and immunotherapy/TKI regimens, so treatment selection should be based on other factors, such as patient comorbidities and disease characteristics, in these situations, Yentz concludes.