Simultaneous resection of gastric and gallbladder metastasis from renal cell carcinoma treated by laparoscopic and endoscopic cooperative surgery: a case report

BACKGROUND: Metastases to the stomach or gallbladder from any malignancy is rarely noted, and simultaneous metastases to both organs are atypical. We present a unique case of simultaneous multifocal metastases of the stomach and gallbladder from renal cell carcinoma (RCC). CASE PRESENTATION: The case involved a 60-year-old man, with a past history of RCC (clear cell type, G2, T1b N0 M0 Stage I) treated by a right nephrectomy. Three years after the nephrectomy, a routine gastrointestinal endoscopy found an ulcerative lesion in the greater curvature of the gastric body. The gastric tumor was pathologically proven to be a metastasis from RCC. Furthermore, computed tomography incidentally revealed a mass lesion in the fundus of the gallbladder, which was also diagnosed as a potential metastasis from RCC. As endoscopic ultrasonography of the gastric tumor suggested the tumor potentially invaded to the submucosal layer, gastric wedge resection via a laparoscopic and endoscopic cooperative surgery (LECS) technique was applied to the gastric tumor, and laparoscopic cholecystectomy to the gallbladder tumor was simultaneously performed. Histological examination confirmed that the tumors of the stomach and gallbladder were both metastatic RCC. The hospitalization period after surgery was not eventful, and the patient was discharged on postoperative day 7. Thereafter, the patient required examination every 3 months, did not use anticancer agents, and has survived without relapse to 9 months after the surgery. CONCLUSIONS: For patients with locally resectable RCC metastases, complete metastasectomy may bring long-term tumor control. Moreover, LECS for gastric metastasis is a reasonable approach for minimal invasiveness and an oncologically feasible outcome.