Background and importance Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) are increasingly used as oral targeted therapies in oncology, where advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is one the main indications.

Aim and objectives To assess the persistence of treatment with TKI in patients with RCC.

Material and methods Retrospective observational study of patients with RCC in treatment with TKI from January 2019 to December 2020. Patients who were in clinical trials were excluded.

Variables collected were age; gender; TKI: sunitinib, pazopanib, axitinib, cabozantinib or tivozanib; line treatment, start and discontinuation date and causes of suspension TKI treatment. Persistence was defined as time (months) from the start of treatment until its discontinuation due to toxicity or inefficiency. Persistence was calculated with Kaplan–Meier survival curves (log rank test). The data were obtained from the history clinical electronic program (DIRAYA) and from the prescription program (ATHOS). The statistics program used was SPPS 20.0.

Results 46 patients were included, 71.7% men and 28.3% women. Median age was 66.5 (IQR 61–73) years.

TKI treatment chosen was: sunitinib (41.4%), pazopanib (30.4%), axitinib (15.2%), cabozantinib (8.7%) and tivozanib (4.3%). The indication was in first line in 58.7% (27) of cases and 28.3% as second line.

Median persistence was 13 months (95% CI 5.4 to 20.6). At the end of the follow-up period, 39.1% (18) of patients continued with the initial TKI treatment and 60.9% (28) had to discontinue. The causes for suspension were: toxicity (46.4%), progression (35.7%) and progression and toxicity (7.1%). 1 patient ended the treatment due to stability and 2 patients continued their follow-up in another hospital.

Conclusion and relevance A priori there are no differences in persistence between the drugs. The main cause of discontinuation in our cohort was toxicity.

Conflict of interest No conflict of interest