A 71-year-old man, with a history of metastatic renal cell cancer (RCC), presented with symptoms of a small bowel obstruction with nausea, vomiting, cramps, and diarrhea. He underwent surgery and was found to have intraluminal metastases from his metastatic RCC. Intraluminal metastases are rare and usually present with obstruction, bleeding, or perforation. The mainstay of treatment remains complete surgical excision, even in the face of widely metastatic disease. Surgery not only palliates symptoms, but may also extend survival because metastatic RCC can be a very indolent and unpredictable disease. Furthermore, these patients can now be treated with a new class of antiangiogenic agents that are showing impressive response rates, which may also translate into improved overall survival. The Oncologist 2008;13:95-97
CASEA 71-year-old man presented to the emergency room (ER) with nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, weight loss, and diarrhea. Seven years earlier he was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and had a right nephrectomy. The tumor invaded the renal vein, inferior vena cava, hilar lymph nodes, right adrenal gland, and the renal vein resection margin was positive. One year later, the tumor recurred in the renal vein stump and he underwent a caval resection. He remained well for 3 years, at which point routine surveillance showed asymptomatic lung and liver metastases, and 1 year later small bowel metastases. Because he was clinically well he received no systemic treatment and was stable for 3 years until his presentation to the ER.Clinical examination revealed tenderness on deep palpation in the epigastric region. Laboratory findings were normal except for a mild normocytic anemia, and hyponatremia. Abdominal computed tomography scan (Fig. 1) demonstrated marked dilatation of the small intestine (4 cm diameter) and the presence of a 3.9 cm ϫ 3.4 cm, hypervascular mass 30 cm proximal to the terminal ileum. The mass had intraluminal, mural, and extraluminal components with large draining veins. Distal to the mass, the small intestine was collapsed. Progression of liver metastases was also noted.The patient underwent a laparoscopic-assisted small bowel resection, which revealed a metastatic nodule involving the mucosa, small bowel wall, and subserosal fat (Fig. 2). The tumor was composed of polygonal cells