Case Report of Long Term Complete Remission of Metastatic Renal Squamous Cell Carcinoma after Palliative Radiotherapy and Adjuvant Dichloroacetate

Abstract

Renal squamous cell carcinoma is a rare form of renal cancer which is considered incurable once metastases develop. Prognosis is poor and average survival of advanced stage disease is typically in the range of several months, despite all available conventional therapies. We describe the case of a 72 year old female with metastatic renal squamous cell carcinoma who had a radical nephrectomy with positive surgical margins, renal vein invasion and metastases to multiple abdominal lymph nodes. She received a course of palliative radiotherapy to the abdomen with 4500cGy in 25 fractions over 5 weeks. Following radiotherapy, she was treated with a cyclic regimen of oral sodium dichloroacetate (" DCA "). Treatment was discontinued after 3 months due to development of peripheral neuropathy. Follow-up imaging upon completion of DCA treatment revealed no sign of metastatic disease. The neuropathy gradually improved and computed tomography imaging four years later demonstrated no cancer recurrence. The patient continues to feel well with no clinical evidence of recurrence five years after completion of therapy, and is living a normal and active life.