Current landscape of cytoreductive nephrectomy: who, when, and why?

The use of cytoreductive nephrectomy (CN) in the cytokine therapy era was well supported by two randomized controlled trials conducted by the Southwest Oncology Group and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (1,2). However, due to the rapid advancement of novel therapies, the benefits of CN for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) have been widely questioned.