Spontaneous regression of renal cell carcinoma metastases after preoperative embolization of primary tumor and subsequent nephrectomy.

Preoperative arterial embolization and infarction of a large renal cell carcinoma followed by radical nephrectomy seven days later led to spontaneous regression of pulmonary metastases. However, a cerebral metastatic deposit manifested itself fourteen months after surgery, requiring craniotomy. Presently, the patient is alive and well with no evidence of disease twenty-one months after his original surgery. The immunologic implications of this favorable response to treatment are discussed, and immunologic testing of similar cases is encouraged.