Metastasis of clear cell renal cell carcinoma to the organs of the head and neck – an ongoing problem

Renal cell carcinoma accounts for about 2-3% of all malignancies. It is characterized by a high frequency of metastases, which are most often observed in the lungs, bones, liver, brain and regional lymph nodes. Literature highlights the rare occurrence of renal cancer metastases to the head and neck, even though it is the third most common cancer that metastasizes to the head and neck. Below we present a case report of metastases of clear cell carcinoma from a kidney to the organs of the head and neck. The analysis was carried out retrospectively based on medical records of a patient hospitalized at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery of the Medical University of Warsaw in the years 2009-2019. We describe an 81-year-old man after left-sided nephrectomy due to clear cell carcinoma, with numerous distant metastases, who was diagnosed with metastases to the left submandibular salivary gland 8 years after primary surgery, followed by a diagnosis of metastasis to the right submandibular salivary gland 3 years later. The patient underwent 2 radical procedures to remove the submandibular salivary glands. Due to the presence of lung metastases, treatment with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor was also implemented.