Low preoperative serum cholesterol level is associated with aggressive pathologic features and poor cancer-specific survival in patients with surgically treated renal cell carcinoma

Background The prognostic implications of preoperative serum total cholesterol (TC) level in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) remain poorly understood. We investigated the prognostic role of preoperative serum TC in patients with surgically treated RCC from a large, multi-institutional Korean collaboration. Patients and methods A database of 3064 patients with RCC who underwent radical or partial nephrectomy between 1999 and 2011 at eight academic centers was analyzed. Preoperative serum TC levels were measured in fasting blood samples. Results Low preoperative serum TC level was associated with aggressive tumor characteristics, including large tumor size, advanced stage, high nuclear grade, lymph node involvement, and sarcomatous differentiation (all P