Abstract
Of 18 patients with renal cell carcinoma extending into the inferior caval vein, 11 underwent nephrectomy and cavathrombectomy and were examined by pulmonary scintigraphy pre- and postoperatively. In 7 patients, who underwent non-radical surgery or no surgery at all and had died of generalized tumour, the postmortem examination reports were scrutinised. On pulmonary scintigraphy, altogether 6 patients (55%) were free from perfusion defects preoperatively. Between the pre- and postoperative examination, perfusion defects appeared, disappeared, varied in size or were unchanged. Only 4 patients (36%) had acquired new defects. The total number of defects preoperatively was 14 and postoperatively 12. Most defects engaged less than a pulmonary segment and only 2 a whole segment. None gave clinical symptoms. No macroscopic pulmonary emboli were found in any patient at the postmortem examination.