[Neoadjuvant therapy for renal cancer]

A 73-year-old man presented with renal cell carcinoma of the left kidney. Despite the absence of metastases, primary nephrectomy was not performed immediately due to the large tumour volume and the presence of large lymph node extension. The patient was treated with sunitinib for 10 months. Computed tomography at the end of treatment showed a significant reduction of the size of the tumour and the volume of lymph node extension. Radical nephrectomy was then performed. On histological evaluation, the primary renal tumour and, to a lesser degree, the lymph nodes were predominantly necrotic.