Metastasectomy for extracalvarial renal cell carcinoma

Palliative surgical resection of extra-calvarial metastatic lesions from renal cell tumors is crucial for controlling metastatic spread, improving quality of life, and preventing associated morbidity. Careful surgical planning, including selective preoperative embolization and controlled resection around critical structures such as the sagittal sinus, is essential for successful outcomes. Cranioplasty with Titanium mesh and bone cement post-resection can provide symptomatic relief, better cosmesis, and overall improved quality of life.

Renal cell carcinomas are aggressive tumors with distant systemic disease. The calvarium appears to be an unusual and rare site for distant metastasis. The treatment modalities are challenging and out of the normal realm for the management of these tumors. We report a case of a 63-year-old woman with a previous history of nephrectomy who presented with symptoms of severe headaches, and swelling of bi-frontal and bi-parietal scalp regions due to multifocal extracalvarial disease. Preoperative bilateral superficial temporal artery embolization was performed to control the intraoperative bleeding. Surgical technique has been described with the critical steps involved, and a literature review has been conducted. Palliative tumor resection surgery was performed to improve the patient's quality of life as well as to confirm the histopathological diagnosis. Gross total resection of the extracalvarial metastatic tumor was achieved. Biopsy confirmed renal cell tumor with the clear cell subtype. The patient recovered well from her surgery with slow healing of the scalp wound. At 6-month follow-up, no recurrence of the extracalvarial disease was observed on serial imaging. Extracalvarial metastasis is a rare presentation in renal cell carcinoma. Considering the inherent radioresistant nature of the tumor, palliative surgical resection can be offered to control the metastatic spread, relieve agonizing pain symptoms, and to improve the quality of life. Preoperative embolization helps to decrease intraoperative blood loss. Moreover, palliative surgical resection of extracalvarial diseases helps to treat the metastasis as well as avoiding the associated morbidity that may occur if left untreated.