Metastatic renal cell carcinoma: Current problems with treatment and early diagnosis

Abstract

A critical review was made on three consecutive male patients with a diagnosis of advanced renal cancer. The first patient, aged 45 years, had left renal cancer with lung and lymph-node metastases; the second, aged 55 years, had right renal cancer with hepatic metastasis and vena-cava thrombosis (from the infrahepatic tract to the iliac junction); the third, aged 65 years, had right renal cancer with vena-cava thrombosis up to the sovrahepatic veins. None or the patients underwent surgery. They underwent chemoembolisation and systemic immunotherapy: the first two with Interleukin 2 and interferon and the third with Interleukin and Tegafur. There was no response to therapy and the disease progressed causing death within 6 months. Observation of these patients showed, in the authors’ opinion, the necessity for new strategies regarding the early diagnosis and treatment of renal cell carcinoma.