Successful treatment of liver and abdomen metastasis of renal epithelioid angiomyolipoma with apatinib: a case report

Renal epithelioid angiomyolipoma (EAML) is a rare tumor that has malignant potential and is predominantly composed of epithelioid cells. Unfortunately, metastatic EAML has a poor prognosis. Here, we describe a rare case of a 53-year-old man with left renal EAML with multiple metastases in the greater omentum and liver. The patient successively underwent surgical resection, arterial chemoembolization, liver lesion aspiration, and cryoablation with an argon-helium knife but still experienced disease progression. Then, apatinib, a novel oral small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) that targets the intracellular domain of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2, was administered. It was surprising that the metastatic lesions decreased, and the ascites disappeared. We speculate that apatinib might provide an additional treatment option for EAML, particularly for patients in poor condition.