Distant metastasis of renal adenocarcinoma

Renal adenocarcinoma in 1451 autopsy cases was classified according to the number of organs involved in distant metastasis, and the mode of metastasis. In cases with single-organ metastasis, lung and lymph node involvement was low (32% and 12%, respectively), but increased as the number of metastatically involved organs increased. Frequency of metastases to the pancreas, heart, and intestine rapidly increased as the number of involved organs increased, while the incidence of metastasis to the brain remained unchanged, regardless of the number of organs involved. A significant correlation was observed between metastases to the lung and organs involved. A significant correlation was observed between metastases to the lung and those to the pulmonary and tracheal lymph nodes, but not between those to the lung and those to the retroperitoneal lymph nodes. While the frequency of metastases to the contralateral kidney and brain was significantly higher in cases with recurrence after nephrectomy than in those who did not undergo nephrectomies, the frequencies of metastases to other organs was similar in these two groups. The number of metastatically involved organs is useful in analyzing the mode of metastasis.