# Leibovich score (kidney cancer recurrence risk after surgery)

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/leibovich-score/  
OnCo record `leibovich-score` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

The Leibovich score predicts how likely clear cell kidney cancer is to spread after the kidney is removed, and it is used to decide who is offered treatment after surgery.

## Summary

In 1,671 patients with localised clear cell renal cell carcinoma treated by radical nephrectomy from 1970 to 2000, Leibovich and colleagues (Cancer 2003) found five features linked to later metastasis: tumour stage, regional lymph node status, tumour size, nuclear grade and tumour necrosis. They combined them into a scoring algorithm to stratify patients for adjuvant therapy trials. Metastasis-free survival across the whole cohort was 74.1% at five years.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-11-04
- Also known as: Leibovich score; Leibovich risk

## Sources

- Leibovich et al., Prediction of progression after radical nephrectomy for patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (Cancer 2003): https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.11234

## Connected records

- terms: [Disease-specific staging and risk systems (FIGO, Ann Arbor, IPI, R-ISS, ELN, IMDC)](https://onco.cc/terms/staging-systems/), [IMDC risk groups (favourable / intermediate / poor)](https://onco.cc/terms/imdc-risk/), [MSKCC (Motzer) risk groups for advanced kidney cancer](https://onco.cc/terms/mskcc-motzer-rcc/)
- cancers: [Clear cell renal cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/clear-cell-rcc/), [Renal cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/rcc/)

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