CARMENA: Cytoreductive nephrectomy followed by sunitinib versus sunitinib alone in metastatic renal cell carcinoma—Results of a phase III noninferiority trial.

LBA3Background: Cytoreductive nephrectomy (CN) has been the standard of care in mRCC in the past twenty years, supported by randomized and large retrospective studies. However the efficacy of targeted therapies has challenged this standard. CARMENA was designed to answer the question of whether upfront CN should continue to be performed before sunitinib. Methods: CARMENA was a randomized phase III trial. Patients (pts) with synchronous mRCC, amenable to CN, were enrolled after confirmation of clear cell histology on biopsy if PS 0-1, absence of symptomatic brain metastasis, acceptable organ function and eligible for sunitinib therapy. Pts were randomized 1:1 to either CN followed by sunitinib (arm A) or sunitinib alone (arm B), and stratified by MSKCC risk groups. Sunitinib was given at 50 mg/d, 4/6wk with dose adaptation to routine practice. In arm A, sunitinib had to start 4 to 6 wk after surgery. Primary endpoint was overall survival (OS). A total of 576 pts had to be enrolled to demonstrate non inferi...