Introduction: Renal cell carcinoma has a propensity to propagate into the renal vein and inferior vena cava. A small percentage has distant metastasis at presentation. Pulmonary, hepatic, cerebral and bone metastases are common, but skeletal muscle involvement is rare.
Case presentation: We present the case of a 51-year-old patient complaining of right flank pain, gross hematuria and a painful left laterothoracic mass. Preoperative examination revealed a tumor in the inferior pole of the right kidney, thrombosis of the right renal vein that extended into the inferior vena cava and a left laterothoracic tumor. We decided on a preoperative digital subtraction angiography and selected embolization of the laterothoracic mass. We performed right radical nephrectomy with vena cava thrombus excision and excision of the left laterothoracic tumor. The pathological examination revealed a clear cell renal carcinoma with sarcomatoid differentiation of the right kidney. Metastases with the above features were noticed in the right adrenal gland and in the skeletal muscle of the chest wall.
Conclusions: The surgical resection of large renal tumors with associated thrombus within the inferior vena cava is challenging to any surgeon. The preoperative embolization of the metastatic tumor is helpful in the reduction of pain and intraoperative blood loss.
