Testicular Metastasis from Renal Cell Carcinoma: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Approximately one-third of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is recognized in its metastatic stage. This systematic review aimed to summarize knowledge on the occurrence and treatment of testicular RCC metastasis. The literature search was performed by two authors independently, with the use of main electronic medical databases (Science Direct, Web of Science, and PubMed) until March 2023 to identify relevant articles that could potentially contribute to this review. Neither language nor publication dates were set as limits. Although we found a total of 51 case reports, only 31 of them contained all the required information. Testicular metastasis in patients with RCC suggests a late stage of the disease. Moreover, it usually does not present typical systemic or specific symptoms except for swelling and enlargement of the affected testis. Knowledge of the possibility of such variants of RCC metastases will allow a clinician to make an appropriate diagnosis and implement adequate treatment without delay, which is crucial in the management of neoplastic disease.

Keywords: neoplasm metastasis; renal cell carcinoma; testicular tumor.

Figure 1

The preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) flowchart.

Figure 2

Distribution of age at diagnosis of testicular mRCC between patients with testicular metastases as the first clinical manifestation of RCC and patients without testicular metastases as the first clinical manifestation of RCC.

Figure 3

Distribution of time between diagnosis of primary kidney tumor and testicular metastasis in months by T stage of primary RCC site in kidney with the results of the differences between the groups (the pT4 group with fewer than two data points has been omitted).