(UroToday.com) Many patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) present with de novo metastatic disease and an appreciable proportion of patients with an initial diagnosis of localized disease subsequently develop advanced or metastatic RCC after surgical treatment. Metastasis to the central nervous system is reported in 3-17% of patients with advanced disease. Patients with untreated brain metastasis typically have a poor prognosis, with a median overall survival (OS) of < 1 year, short progression-free survival (PFS), and neurological symptoms. Combination therapy with nivolumab plus ipilimumab has demonstrated long-term efficacy and tolerability in patients with previously untreated advanced RCC.1 Previous phase 3 clinical trials of patients with advanced or metastatic cancers have mostly excluded patients with brain metastases. CheckMate 920 is a prospective, US community-based, multi-arm, ongoing phase 3b/4 clinical trial of nivolumab plus ipilimumab treatment in patients with previously untreated advanced RCC and clinical features mostly excluded from phase 3 trials, and therefore is an unmet medical need. At the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2021 Annual Meeting, Dr. Hamid Emamekhoo and colleagues presented updated safety and efficacy results for the cohort of patients with advanced RCC of any histology and brain metastases from CheckMate 920.