CASE REPORT article

Front. Oncol.

Sec. Surgical Oncology

Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1543060

Locally Invasive Thyroid Metastases from Renal Cell Carcinoma: Surgery after Neoadjvant Therapy

Provisionally accepted
Dana  M. HartlDana M. Hartl*Mohamed Amine  BANIMohamed Amine BANIAbir  Al-GhuzlanAbir Al-GhuzlanAndreea-Elena  SimonescuAndreea-Elena SimonescuIngrid  BreuskinIngrid BreuskinAlix  MarhicAlix MarhicLAURENCE  ALBIGESLAURENCE ALBIGESLivia  LamartinaLivia LamartinaJulien  HadouxJulien Hadoux
  • Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus, Villejuif, France

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Neoadjuvant therapy is under investigation for unresectable clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC)(1) but also for locally invasive primary thyroid cancers.(2) Herein, we describe two cases of locally invasive thyroid metastases from ccRCC treated surgically after neoadjuvant therapy, to highlight the rationale and outcomes.Two patients, one female, one male, both age 69, developed unresectable thyroid metastases from ccRCC respectively 20 and 13 years after nephrectomy for ccRCC. Patient 1 received lenvatinib and a bispecific anti PD-1/CTLA-4 antibody in the context of a clinical trial. The second patient received nivolumab and cabozantinib.The observed tumor response in patient 1 showed a decrease in mean surgical complexity score from unresectable (prevertebral fascia invasion) to severe (risk of recurrent nerve paralysis), and in patient 2 from unresectable (prevertebral fascia) to moderate (superficial esophageal invasion). The recurrent nerve was invaded in patient 1, leading to a subtotal resection. Surgery was a total thyroidectomy extended to the internal jugular vein in patient 2. Hospitalization was 1 and 2 days respectively. Postoperative dysphonia improved in patient 1 after 3 months. No complications occurred in the second patient, who received adjuvant radiation therapy. After surgery, systemic therapy was discontinued in both patients, and stable residual oligometastatic disease was followed.Neoadjuvant therapy enabled a macroscopic resection of locally invasive thyroid metastases, preserving laryngeal function and allowing discontinuation of systemic therapy. This approach may be considered in these rare cases, although the impact on progression-free or overall survival is currently unknown.

Keywords: Renal cell carcinoma, thyroid, metastasis, Neoadjuvant Therapy, kinase inhibitors, Immunotherapy, surgery Breuskin, Marhic

Received: 09 Jan 2025; Accepted: 28 Apr 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Hartl, BANI, Al-Ghuzlan, Simonescu, Breuskin, Marhic, ALBIGES, Lamartina and Hadoux. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Dana M. Hartl, Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus, Villejuif, France

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