[The paranasal sinuses as metastatic site of renal cell carcinoma]

Malignant tumors very seldom establish metastasis in the paranasal sinuses. Renal cell carcinomas (RCC) are one of the possible primary tumors displaying metastases in this location. The incidence of metastasis from the renal cell carcinoma in the paranasal sinuses is higher as would be expected by the incidence of this tumor.

We report here about 3 patients from the ENT clinic with metastasis in the paranasal sinus derived from primary RCC. Two of them showed metastases in the maxillary sinus and the third patient had a metastasis in the sphenoid sinus.

Further progression of the patients disease exhibited the paranasal sinuses being only a localisation of the generalised tumor disease. 2 of 3 patients developed the metastasis many years after nephrectomy and the third patient displayed a renal cell carcinoma by the diagnosis of a paralysis of the abducens nerve. All patients were treated with radiation of the tumor, but in one case with a metastasis in the maxillary sinus the tumor was also treated surgically. 2 of the 3 patients (one with a metastasis in the maxillary sinus and the other in the sphenoidal sinus) were inoperable due to the expanded tumor size. Nowadays surgical resection of the tumor seems to be the only therapy. In the follow-up all patients developed multiple distant metastasis. With respect to the quality of life of the patients the indication of a radical operation should be discussed very critically. Palliative methods, like interferon-therapy or selective embolisation of tumor, may also reduce the symptoms of the tumor and increase the quality of life for the patients.