Renal adenocarcinoma with intramyopericardial and right atrial metastasis, latter via coronary sinus: report of a case

Right and left atrial metastasis of renal cell carcinoma: A case report

Introduction and importance

Cardiac tumors are uncommon with an estimated incidence of 0.002–0.3 % in autopsy series. Most cardiac tumors are metastatic in nature. Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) metastatic to the heart without inferior vena cava (IVC) contiguous involvement is extremely rare with about 31 cases reported in the literature and only one case with bilateral atrial metastases.

Case presentation

In this report, the surgical management of metachronous RCC involving the right and left atrium is described in a 41-year-old male patient three years after initial diagnosis who presented with worsening episodes of cough, dyspnea, chest pain and hemoptysis. Transesophageal echocardiogram revealed significant inflow obstruction. The patient underwent bilateral atrial mass excision via median sternotomy. The postoperative period was unremarkable, and the patient was referred to medical oncology to pursue further treatment.

Clinical discussion

Among the reported cases of cardiac RCC metastases without contiguous IVC involvement, bilateral atrial metastases are exceedingly rare. To our knowledge, this is the first case with bilateral atrial involvement to undergo surgical resection reported in the literature.

Conclusion

Isolated biatrial cardiac metastases from RCC can be successfully resected with good outcomes in selected patients.

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Isolated biatrial metastases of renal cell carcinoma are rare.

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Successful surgical resection is possible in selected cases.

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Further oncology treatment is required.

Response to cabozantinib in renal cell carcinoma with cardiac metastases

In metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) patients, cardiac metastases are a rare and often a post-mortem finding. Clinical manifestations of cardiac metastases have a late onset and include pericardial effusions, heart failure and embolic phenomena. Treatment of cardiac metastasis is not yet standardized, and few data are available about the efficacy of TKI on treatment of cardiac metastases in mRCC patients. In this report, we describe the case of a 66-year-old male who presented with mRCC with lung and cardiac metastases treated with cabozantinib, a multikinase inhibitor that was administered in second line after disease progression with sunitinib. To date, there are no data about the safety and efficacy of cabozantinib in mRCC with cardiac metastasis. In a real word analysis, cabozantinib demonstrated to be associated to a modest risk of developing left ventricular heart failure. It is unknown if this risk is higher in mRCC population with cardiac metastases. We report the first evidence of efficacy and safety of cabozantinib in cardiac mRCC patients, probably due to its specific inhibition of several molecular intracellular pathways. Additional molecular and clinical studies are needed before well tolerated and efficacy of cabozantinib treatment for these patients can be fully understood.

The Clinical Presentation, Survival Outcomes, and Management of Patients With Renal Cell Carcinoma and Cardiac Metastasis Without Inferior Vena Cava Involvement: Results From a Pooled Clinical Trial Database and Systematic Review of Reported Cases

BACKGROUND

Cardiac metastases from renal cell carcinoma (RCC) are uncommon and there are limited data regarding the presentation and outcomes of this population. The objective of this study was to evaluate the characteristics and outcomes of patients with RCC with cardiac metastasis without inferior vena cava (IVC) involvement.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We conducted a pooled retrospective analysis of metastatic RCC patients treated in 4 clinical trials. Additionally, we conducted a systematic review of cases reported in the literature from 1973 to 2015. Patients with cardiac metastases from RCC without IVC involvement were included. Patient and disease characteristics were described. Additionally, treatments, response to therapy, and survival outcomes were summarized.

RESULTS

Of 1765 metastatic RCC patients in the clinical trials database, 10 had cardiac metastases without IVC involvement. All patients received treatment with targeted therapy. There was 1 observed partial response (10%) and 6 patients showed stable disease (60%). The median progression-free survival was 6.9 months. The systematic review of reported clinical cases included 39 patients. In these patients, the most common cardiac site of involvement was the right ventricle (51%; n = 20). Patients were treated with medical (28%; n = 11) and/or surgical treatment (49%; n = 19) depending on whether disease was isolated (n = 13) or multifocal (n = 26).

CONCLUSION

To our knowledge, this is the first series to report on the presentation and outcomes of patients with cardiac metastasis without IVC involvement in RCC. We highlight that although the frequency of patients with cardiac metastases without IVC involvement is low, these patients have a unique clinical presentation and warrant special multidisciplinary management.

Renal cell carcinoma with intramyocardial metastases

Background

Cardiac metastases from renal cell carcinoma without vena caval involvement are extremely rare with a limited number of cases reported in the worldwide literature until now. Nevertheless, this rare location of metastasis may significantly influence patient treatment and prognosis. Cooperation between oncology, cardiology, and urology teams are indispensable in cases of patients suffering from intramyocardial tumors. For these individuals, treatment guidelines based on large-scale studies are unavailable and only case/case series analysis may provide clinicians with decision assistance.

Case presentation

In this paper, we report a case of a 50-year-old Caucasian male diagnosed with a 10.2 × 10.3 × 10.0 cm lower pole left renal mass in January 2002. He was subsequently treated with immunochemotherapy, tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), and mTOR inhibitors (mTORIs) - that is sunitinib, everolimus, and sorafenib. In March 2012, contrast-enhancing tumors in the left myocardium (∅22 mm) and in the interventricular septum (∅26 mm) were seen on CT. Cardiology testing was conducted and the patient was treated with pazopanib with a profound response. Overall survival since the clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) diagnosis was 11 years 2 months and since diagnosis of multiple heart metastases was 1 year.

Conclusions

Cardiac metastases present a unique disease course in renal cell carcinoma. Cardiac metastases may remain asymptomatic, as in the case of this patient at the time of diagnosis. The most common cardiac presentation of renal cell carcinoma is hypertension, but other cardiac presentations include shortness of breath, cough, and arrhythmias. Targeted systemic therapy with tyrosine kinase inhibitors may be useful for this group of patients, but necrosis in the myocardium can result in tamponade and death. Regular cardiac magnetic resonance imaging scans are required for treatment monitoring.

Cardiac metastasis from renal cell carcinoma without inferior vena involvement: a review of the literature based on a case report. Two different patterns of spread?

We report the case of a 59-year-old man with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC), without inferior vena cava (IVC) involvement, treated with radical nephrectomy, palliative radiotherapy for bone metastasis, and medical therapy for bone and lung metastases. The patient died of cardiac arrest after evidence of massive malignant pericardial effusion. At autopsy, massive myocardial and pericardial neoplastic invasion was found. Heart involvement via the IVC is a well-known phenomenon during RCC progression, while in the absence of IVC involvement, clinically evident cardiac involvement is exceptional, with few cases reported in the worldwide literature. Analysis of prior reports and of the present case provides evidence on how the cardiac metastasis may have two distinct origins and clinical features. The first is hematogenous, via the IVC, even in the absence of renal vein involvement; it is generally circumscribed and has a good prognosis after surgery. The second is through the intrathoracic lymphatic system, in the presence of disseminated disease, especially pulmonary metastasis, and this type has a very poor prognosis.