Palliative Treatment of Leptomeningeal Carcinomatosis From Renal Cell Carcinoma With Local CyberKnife Radiotherapy and Systemic Pazopanib Therapy: A Case Report

• Published in: Cureus 2024, Vol.16 (2), p.e54025-e54025
• Main Authors: Mizumatsu, Shinichiro, Wakabayashi, Kenichi, Terashima, Yasuhiro
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2168-8184; 2168-8184
• DOI: 10.7759/cureus.54025

Leptomeningeal carcinomatosis (LMC) from renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is rare. There is no established treatment strategy for LMC, and the prognosis is extremely poor. We describe a case of LMC from RCC treated with local CyberKnife radiotherapy (CKR) and systemic therapy with pazopanib. The patient was a 63-year-old man with brain metastases from right RCC. Surgery and CKR were performed for the brain metastases, and the lesions were subsequently controlled. The patient developed isolated lesions in the pituitary stalk, right internal auditory canal, left ventricular choroid plexus (CP), left facial nerve, and medulla oblongata after the surgery and CKR for brain metastases. We diagnosed LMC and treated the patient with systemic therapy with pazopanib. We performed local therapy with CKR for lesions of the pituitary stalk, right internal auditory canal, left facial nerve, and medulla oblongata. The CP lesion was not treated with CKR because the lesion tended to shrink after systemic therapy with pazopanib. There were no symptoms due to LMC until the end of life and no adverse events due to CKR. Ten years and five months after the nephrectomy for RCC, one year and four months after the initial CKR for brain metastases, and nine months after the diagnosis of LMC, the patient died due to pleural effusion from lung metastases. Our case suggests that CKR combined with pazopanib may be effective as a palliative treatment for LMC from RCC.