[A case of interstitial lung disease due to sunitinib]

A 64-year-old Japanese man who presented with a left renal mass (diameter, 9 cm) and multiple lung metastases, underwent translumbar left radical nephrectomy. Histological examination revealed the presence of clear cell-type, G3, pT3b renal cell carcinoma. Interferon-alpha (IFN-α) was administered postoperatively. Although the lung metastases were well controlled, radiological examination showed right renal metastasis and multiple brain metastases. γKnife was performed and chemotherapy was changed to sunitinib (50 mg/day). The patient developed a high fever on day 13 ; therefore, sunitinib administration was stopped on day 15. The next day, he presented with dyspnea, and chest computed tomography (CT) showed diffuse ground-glass opacities in both lungs. Bronchioalveolar lavage showed a predominance of lymphocytes, without any evidence of infection. We diagnosed the patient with interstitial lung disease (grade 3) attributable to sunitinib administration. After cessation of sunitinib therapy, chest CT showed that the shadows had resolved. We administered half of the previous dose of sunitinib 2 weeks after cessation of sunitinib therapy for complete resolution of the lung metastases. After the 2nd course of sunitinib, radiological examination showed tumor progression. Therefore, we replaced sunitinib with everolimus. Interstitial lung disease due to sunitinib therapy may be rare ; however, its occurrence should be considered when administering sunitinib.