Case Presentation
February 2016
- 70-year old female, presented to her physician with symptoms of nausea, fatigue, and weight loss
- Abdominal CT showed a 9-cm left renal tumor and a small solitary spot on the liver
- She was referred to urology and underwent left radical nephrectomy with removal of the liver lesion
- Post-surgical imaging showed multiple liver lesions
- She was then referred to medical oncology and was started on sunitinib 50 mg daily on a 4/2 schedule; stable disease was achieved within 6 weeks
- Moderate fatigue, diarrhea, and increasing severity of handfoot syndrome were managed with treatment interruption and then dose reduction to
June 2016
- Four months later the patient reported increasing fatigue, nausea, and weight loss
- Abdominal CT showed progression of her liver metastasis
- She was then switched from sunitinib to nivolumab
- The patient reported that her symptoms had improved
- Imaging at 8 weeks showed a response in the liver
- She was maintained on nivolumab without any toxicity
February 2017
- Eight months later, the patient complained of fatigue, abdominal discomfort, and weight loss; she subsequently developed back pain
- CT scan of abdomen and chest showed new liver lesions and progression of previously identified lesions
- MRI of the spine showed multiple metastatic lesions of the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, with no evidence of cord compression
- She sought a second-opinion at an academic center
- She was subsequently switched to cabozantinib 60 mg
- Her symptoms subsided within 4 weeks
- CT and MRI imaging at 8 weeks showed response with improvement of both liver and spine metastases.
- She was maintained on cabozantinib for approximately 4 months and developed diarrhea and hand-foot skin reaction
- Her dose of cabozantinib was reduced to 40 mg daily on which she was maintained for 13 months until she developed disease progression
- At this time the patient is being considered for enrollment into a clinical trial