Synchronous nephrectomy and right hepatectomy for metastatic chromophobe renal cell carcinoma: report of a case and review of the literature

The prognosis of metastatic renal cell carcinoma is poor, since non-operative modalities for advanced renal carcinoma have failed to yield effective results. In fact, there is no indication for radiotherapy, except for palliative treatment of symptomatic bone metastases, and systemic chemotherapy is not effective. Despite the promising early results with immunotherapy, a complete response occurs in less than 15% of patients and is rarely lasting. Surgery, when indicated, seems to be the only therapeutic option possible. Liver metastases occur in 20% of cases and are often multiple. Experience with hepatectomy for metastatic renal tumours has rarely been reported. Not only does a small group of patients have isolated liver metastases that may be treated with radical surgery, but also extrahepatic metastases ordinarily coexist at the time of diagnosis. We report a case of a 55-year-old man with a chromophobe renal cell carcinoma with a single synchronous hepatic metastasis that were treated simultaneously with radical nephrectomy and right hepatectomy. To the best of our knowledge this is the first case of a single metastasis of a chromophobe renal cell carcinoma treated with synchronous kidney and hepatic resection.