To clarify the relative importance of clinicopathological factors potentially affecting the survival of individuals initially diagnosed as having metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC), univariate and multivariate analyses using Cox's proportional hazards model were performed for 111 RCC patients who were admitted to four hospitals in Nagoya, Japan, between 1978 and 1993. Survival time was calculated from the date of diagnosis to the date of death or the end of May, 1995. Nineteen factors (17 clinically applicable before treatment and 2 histological in nature) were included for assessment. Univariate analysis revealed that 10 of the total 19 factors were significantly associated with patient survival. Multivariate analysis found 7 factors to be statistically significant determinants. Survival was further evaluated by categorizing the patients into three groups according to the number of the 7 factors. These groups showed clearly different survivals (log-rank test, p < 0.0001), confirming the importance of the 7 factors as definite determinants. They should therefore prove to be of advantage for classifying metastatic RCC patients when designing clinical prospective studies of immunotherapy and chemotherapy.