Leptomeningeal carcinomatosis from renal cell cancer: treatment attempt with radiation and sunitinib (case report)

A case of leptomeningeal carcinomatosis in a patient with known brain and lung metastases from renal cell cancer without previous systemic therapy is presented. Neoplastic meningitis (NM) developed 31 months after first diagnosis of simultaneous extra- and intracranial recurrence of kidney cancer and surgical resection of a cerebellar metastasis. In spite of local radiotherapy to the macroscopic NM lesions in the cervical and lumbar spine followed by initiation of sunitinib, the patient succumbed to his disease 4 months after the diagnosis of NM. The untreated lung metastases progressed very slowly during almost 3 years of observation. This case illustrates important issues around both biological behaviour and treatment approaches in metastatic renal cell cancer.