Right Sited Renal Cell Carcinoma Metastasizing to the Contralateral Ovary: Case Report and Review of the Literature

Abstract

Ovarian metastases from renal cell carcinoma are rare, with only 22 cases reported in the literature. We report a case of a 45-year-old woman, who developed left ovarian and right adrenal metastases 3 months after diagnosis of clear cell renal cell carcinoma and review the literature. This is the fourth reported case of right renal cell carcinoma metastasizing to the left ovary. The patient is alive 4 years after resection of the ovarian tumor, treated with sunitinib. We conclude that, although rare, metastatic renal cell carcinoma should be included in the differential diagnosis of ovarian tumors with clear cell histology.

Ovarian metastasis of clear cell renal cell carcinoma: A case report

“…8 Only 24 cases of RCC metastases to the ovaries have been reported to date. 2,3 In our case, the metastatic tumour affected both ovaries.…”

“…2,9 Ovarian metastases may develop either before, or many years after, a diagnosis of the primary renal tumour and can therefore be easily confused with primary ovarian tumours. 10 Metastatic renal cell tumours typically spread hematogenously, and may be spread by a renal-ovarian axis (i.e., the direct drainage of the left ovary into the left renal vein).…”

“…10 Metastatic renal cell tumours typically spread hematogenously, and may be spread by a renal-ovarian axis (i.e., the direct drainage of the left ovary into the left renal vein). 2 Because of this unique anatomy, incompetent gonadal veins allow a retrograde venous flow. 11 This phenomenon would explain the slightly higher number of cases of left-sided clear cell RCC with metastases to the ipsilateral ovary.…”

“…1 Despite the fact that this tumour is able to metastasize to different sites via hematogenous spread, there have been only 24 cases of ovarian metastases reported to date. 2,3 Metastasis to the ovaries is thought to occur by retrograde venous embolization through the renal vein to the ovarian vessels. 4 We describe an additional case with clinical, histological and immunohistochemical characteristics, discuss the differential diagnosis and review the literature.…”

Autotransplantation of cryopreserved ovarian tissue in cancer survivors and the risk of reintroducing malignancy: a systematic review

“…Renal cell carcinoma also has the potential to metastasize to the ovaries (Liu et al, 1992;Young and Hart, 1992;Spencer et al, 1993;Adachi et al, 1994;Hammock et al, 2003;Insabato et al, 2003;Anagnostou et al, 2009), as has transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary tract (Fossa et al, 1977;Hsiu et al, 1991;Oliva et al, 1995) and other urinary tract tumours (Gadd et al, 1960).…”