Objective: The contralateral adrenal gland is a rare metastatic site in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). We describe our experiences with this metastasis in a cohort of 610 radical nephrectomy patients analysed. To our knowledge this study is the first to demonstrate an inferior vena cava tumour thrombus from metachronous contralateral adrenal metastasis.
Patients and methods: After radical nephrectomy for RCC, 610 patients treated at our institution from 1985-99 were retrospectively investigated for the incidence of contralateral adrenal metastasis, additional clinical findings, treatment modalities and survival after treatment for contralateral adrenal gland metastasis.
Results: The incidence of contralateral adrenal metastasis was 1.1% (7/610 patients), while the incidence of ipsilateral metastasis was 3.4% (21/610). In 3 of 7 cases the contralateral adrenal metastasis occurred simultaneously with primary RCC in the kidney. The contralateral adrenal gland was affected by distant tumour spread metachronously in 4 of 7 cases (3/4 bilateral adrenal involvement, 1/4 unilateral disease). In 1 case a metachronous contralateral adrenal metastasis caused vena cava tumour thrombus by propagation via the suprarenal venous route. After a mean follow-up of 20 months (range 1-54 months), 4 of 6 patients showed no evidence of disease after contralateral adrenalectomy.
Conclusions: The probability of contralateral adrenal metastasis from RCC is 1.1%. Adrenalectomy in these cases offers a good chance of cure. In 71% of cases contralateral adrenal metastasis occurs in conjunction with ipsilateral disease, which provides a strong argument for routine ipsilateral adrenalectomy during radical nephrectomy. Care must be taken in preoperative diagnostics, as metachronous adrenal metastasis is capable of causing vena cava tumour thrombus.