Therapy on pulmonary metastasis of renal cell carcinoma

We reviewed the results of therapy on pulmonary metastasis of renal cell carcinoma performed in our hospital between 1979 and 1988. Eighty patients of renal cell carcinoma were treated during the period. Of those patients 13 (10 males and 3 females) had pulmonary metastasis and their ages were between 52 and 74 (average 61.6). The therapies we performed were surgical resection, cytotoxic chemotherapy, BRM (biological response modifier) therapy, hormone therapy and irradiation therapy. Four patients became tumor free by administration of medroxyprogesterone acetate, interferon-alpha, UFT (a compound combining tegafur and uracil) and surgical resection respectively. In 1 patient, administration of UFT resulted in partial remission. Cytotoxic chemotherapy using cisplatin, vinblastine and doxorubicin, and irradiation therapy were not effective. These findings suggest that BRM therapy, UFT therapy and hormone therapy are effective in eliminating pulmonary metastasis of renal cell carcinoma, particularly in the patients with excellent performance status whose original lesions had been resected.