A Life-Threatening Metastasis of Renal Cell Carcinoma: An Endotracheal Metastasis

Renal cell carcinoma is the most common malignancy of the urinary system, and nearly half of patients develop lung metastases at the time of diagnosis or during follow-up. Endotracheal metastases from renal cell carcinoma are exceedingly rare but may be life-threatening due to acute airway obstruction. In such cases, therapeutic interventions are primarily directed toward maintaining airway patency rather than achieving oncological control. Here, we report a case of endotracheal metastasis successfully excised using rigid bronchoscopy under general anesthesia with jet ventilation in a patient who had undergone nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma three years earlier. The patient remained recurrence-free in the trachea at one-year follow-up.