Long-term Response After Stopping Immunotherapy in a Patient With Metastatic Renal Cancer

Kidney cancers account for about 2% of human malignancies. In recent decades, the incidence of this cancer type has gradually increased, mainly due to advances in imaging. The metastatic potential of these cancers is significant: a quarter of patients will immediately present with metastases and more than one third of patients treated with nephrectomy for a localized disease will develop metastases during their course. In total, more than half of patients will suffer from the consequences of metastasis. The median survival at this stage is only thirteen months, so the therapeutic challenge is immense.

The present case report describes a case of left renal clear cell carcinoma with brain, lung, right adrenal, bone and lymph node metastases in a 55-year-old male. The patient received only one line of anticancer treatment with sunitinib, which could not be continued due to haemorrhagic manifestations in brain metastases. The treatment was changed with immunotherapy which showed its effect even if it was stopped due to the patient wishes in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic.

Immunotherapy opens the doors to a new era in treatment of metastatic renal cancer and shows efficiency even after it has been stopped.