Radical Nephrectomy and Pulmonary Lobectomy for Renal Cell Carcinoma With Tumor Thrombus Extension into the Inferior Vena Cava and Pulmonary Arteries

Abstract

Background/aim: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is one of the most common malignancies of the urinary tract. Venous migration, tumor thrombus and metastases are often seen in patients with RCC and are adverse prognostic factors. Intravascular tumor growth along the renal vein into the inferior vena cava occurs in up to 10% of all patients with RCC. Furthermore, extension of the tumor reaching the right atrium is detected in approximately 1% of all patients. Synchronous involvement of pulmonary arteries with tumor emboli is very rare and challenging. Management of metastatic RCC includes surgical resection of renal and metastatic lesions. We present 3 cases of patients with RCC tumor thrombus extending into the inferior vena cava (IVC) and with pulmonary emboli of the tumor thrombus into one of the branches of the main pulmonary artery. All the cases had simultaneous resection of the kidney tumor with the tumor thrombus and pulmonary lobectomy that included the tumor emboli with satisfactory outcome.

Case report: We present a series of cases of RCC with tumor extension into the inferior vena cava (IVC) and with tumor emboli to the pulmonary arteries. Surgical procedure in all cases consisted of radical nephrectomy with IVC tumor thrombus resection, along with a thoracotomy with lung resection including the tumor emboli to one of the branches of the main pulmonary artery. Synchronous metastatic lesions were found on the liver in one case and contiguous extension of renal tumor to the pancreas in another.

Conclusion: In patients with IVC thrombus with synchronous pulmonary artery tumor embolus, such as the cases presented in this series, a careful multidisciplinary management approach is preferable. Transplant technique used in our open approach minimizes complications, blood loss, and provides excellent visualization for abdominal vascular manipulation of IVC. This provides a potentially curable treatment option with acceptable survival rates.

Keywords: Renal cell carcinoma; inferior vena cava; lung metastasis; pulmonary embolism; radical nephrectomy; thrombus.