A case of late pancreatic metastasis from renal cell carcinoma

The authors report the case of a 58-year-old man who developed four pancreatic metastases ten years after radical nephrectomy for pT3N0 renal cell carcinoma. Total pancreatectomy was performed and, three years later, the patient was in good general health, free from any tumour recurrence. Pancreatic metastases from renal cell carcinoma are rare and generally occur late. They are usually discovered on computed tomography performed for surveillance of the renal cancer. Treatment is surgical and usually consists of cephalic duodenopancreatectomy, splenopancreatectomy or total pancreatectomy. The prognosis is better than that of primary pancreatic cancer as the estimated median survival is 30 months after treatment.