Study Links Renal Cancer, Multiple Myeloma

Researchers have identified a bidirectional association between renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and multiple myeloma, which suggests that common risk factors influence development of both malignancies, according to a recent report in BJU International (2011;108:825-830).

Rohit P. Ojha, DrPH, MPH, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and colleagues analyzed data from 57,190 individuals diagnosed with RCC as a primary malignancy and 34,156 diagnosed with multiple myeloma as a primary malignancy. The researchers found 88 multiple myeloma cases in the RCC cohort. Multiple myeloma was 1.51 times more likely to be found in RCC patients than in the general population, according to the investigators. They identified 69 RCC cases in the multiple myeloma cohort. RCC was 1.89 times more likely to be present in patients with multiple myeloma than in the general population.

"Our findings may be useful for raising awareness among clinicians that a diagnosis of multiple myeloma may be within the spectrum of second malignancies among patients with renal cell carcinoma and that a diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma may be within the spectrum of second malignancies among patients with multiple myeloma," the authors wrote.